AND the summer sun shone in the sky, And the rose's whole life was in its sigh, When her eyelids were kiss'd by a morning beam, And the Nymph rose up from her moonlit dream; For she had watch'd the midnight hour Till her head had bow'd like a sleeping flower; But now she had waken'd, and light and dew Gave her morning freshness and morning hue, -- Up she sprang, and away she fled O'er the lithe grass stem and the blossom's head; From the lilies' bells she dash'd not the spray, For her feet were as light and as white as they. Sudden upon her arm there shone A gem with the hues of an Indian stone, And she knew the insect bird whose wing Is sacred to PSYCHE and to Spring; But scarce had her touch its captive prest, Ere another prisoner was on her breast; And the Zephyr sought his prize again, -- "No," said the Nymph, "thy search is vain." And her golden hair from its braided yoke Burst like the banner of hope as she spoke: "And instead, fair boy, thou shalt moralise Over the pleasure that from thee flies; Then it is pleasure, for we possess But in the search, not in the success." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FIGHTING RACE [FEBRUARY 16, 1898] by JOSEPH IGNATIUS CONSTANTINE CLARKE ANNA BULLEN, ACT 1: SHORT CURSE by JOHN BANKS (17TH CENTURY-) CHORUS OF A SONG THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY ALBERT CHEVALIER by HENRY MAXIMILIAN BEERBOHM PSALM 87 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE A MOTHER'S LAMENT [FOR THE DEATH OF HER SON] by ROBERT BURNS |