I put your leaves aside, One by one: The stiff, broad outer leaves; The smaller ones, Pleasant touch, veined with purple; The glazed inner leaves. One by one I parted from your leaves, Until you stood up like a white flower Swaying slightly in the evening wind. White flower, Flower of wax, of jade, of unstreaked agate; Flower with surfaces of ice, With shadows faintly crimson. Where in all the garden is there such a flower? The stars crowd through the lilac leaves To look at you. The low moon brightens you with silver. The bud is more than the calyx. There is nothing to equal a white bud, Of no colour, and of all, Burnished by moonlight, Thrust upon by a softly-swinging wind. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STANZAS; HOOD'S LAST POEM by THOMAS HOOD TO THE ROSE UPON THE ROOD OF TIME by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS CHANNING by AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT FRIAR JEROME'S BEAUTIFUL BOOK; A.D. 1200 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH LYSISTRATA: HOW THE WOMEN WILL STOP WAR by ARISTOPHANES IF YOU PLAY A GAME OF CHANCE by WILLIAM BLAKE L'AMITIE EST L'AMOUR SANS AILES by GEORGE GORDON BYRON OBSERVATIONS IN THE ART OF ENGLISH POESY: 1 by THOMAS CAMPION |