@3Sun-warmed, where Hudson meets the sea, My motley-blossomed croft is sown -- A desert inn that cheers the bee Astray amid our wastes of stone -- Where pansies raise their velvet heads, Where lilies nod to hollyhocks Across the sweet-alyssum beds; And tiger-bells and four-o'clocks, Right neighborly, together grow -- The wild and tame, the red and white; And here I spend the hour of glow Ere moths and bats bring in the night. And here my chair's a ducal throne; I rule a fief in Fairyland, Though scarce to any serf is known My puissant, scepter-wielding hand. Unchecked, his subterrene abode That Earth-gnome Worm may dig with zeal, Nor shall I balk the Ogre Toad Who marks him for a horrid meal! Those gay Zingaras of the breeze, The air-delighting Butterflies, Have come to woo my trellised peas That mock so well their forms and dyes. I know yon dart of emerald light That shakes the arbor's dewy shower! The Humming-bird, bold errant knight, Is tilting with the trumpet-flower! Unthanked, unknown, aloof, benign, By wayward whim alone controlled, Like him that ruled in ease divine The careless, lawless Age of Gold, So do I hold Saturnian reign Till one transcending day, I ween, Shall welcome to her leal domain My Suzeraine -- the Faery Queen.@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE MARTYRED by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE GOODLY SONG by PAUL VERLAINE OPPORTUNITY by JOHN JAMES INGALLS SEVEN TIMES ONE [- CHILDHOOD. EXULTATION] by JEAN INGELOW PROMETHEUS UNBOUND: THE RED SEA by AESCHYLUS |