Page:An epic of women and other poems (IA epicofwomenother00osha).pdf/27

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

III.

THE CYPRESS.


O Ivory bird, that shakest thy wan plumes,
  And dost forget the sweetness of thy throat
  For a most strange and melancholy note—
That wilt forsake the summer and the blooms
  And go to winter in a place remote!

The country where thou goest, Ivory bird!
  It hath no pleasant nesting-place for thee;
  There are no skies nor flowers fair to see,
Nor any shade at noon—as I have heard—
  But the black shadow of the Cypress tree.