Excerpt
PART 1.
A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew,And the young winds fed it with silver dew,And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light.And closed them beneath the kisses of Night.
And the Spring arose on the garden fair, _5Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breastRose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
But none ever trembled and panted with blissIn the garden, the field, or the wilderness, _10Like a doe in the noontide with love's sweet want,As the companionless Sensitive Plant.
The snowdrop, and then the violet,Arose from the ground with warm rain wet,And their breath was mixed with fresh odour, sent _15From the turf, like the voice and the instrument.
Then the pied wind-flowers and the tulip tall,And narcissi, the fairest among them all,Who gaze on their eyes in the stream's recess,Till they die of their own dear loveliness; _20
And the Naiad-like lily of the vale,Whom youth makes so fair and passion so paleThat the light of its tremulous bells is seenThrough their pavilions of tender green;
And the hyacinth purple, and white, and blue, _25Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anewOf music so delicate, soft, and intense,It was felt like an odour within the sense;
And the rose like a nymph to the bath addressed,Which unveiled the depth of her glowing breast, _30Till, fold after fold, to the fainting airThe soul of her beauty and love lay bare:
And the wand-like lily, which lifted up,As a Maenad, its moonlight-coloured cup,Till the fiery star, which is its eye,Gazed through clear dew on the tender sky; _35
And the jessamine faint, and the sweet tuberose,The sweetest flower for scent that blows;And all rare blossoms from every climeGrew in that garden in perfect prime. _40
And on the stream whose inconstant bosomWas pranked, under boughs of embowering blossom,With golden and green light, slanting throughTheir heaven of many a tangled hue,
Broad water-lilies lay tremulously, _45And starry river-buds glimmered by,And around them the soft stream did glide and danceWith a motion of sweet sound and radiance.
And the sinuous paths of lawn and of moss,Which led through the garden along and across, _50Some open at once to the sun and the breeze,Some lost among bowers of blossoming trees,
Were all paved with daisies and delicate bellsAs fair as the fabulous asphodels,And flow'rets which, drooping as day drooped too, _55Fell into pavilions, white, purple, and blue,To roof the glow-worm from the evening dew.
And from this undefiled ParadiseThe flowers (as an infant's awakening eyesSmile on its mother, whose singing sweet _60Can first lull, and at last must awaken it),
When Heaven's blithe winds had unfolded them,As mine-lamps enkindle a hidden gem,Shone smiling to Heaven, and every one _65Shared joy in the light of the gentle sun;
For each one was interpenetratedWith the light and the odour its neighbour shed,Like young lovers whom youth and love make dearWrapped and filled by their mutual atmosphere....