Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
April RomanceErnest Rhys
I
Bathing itself in liquid green and amber,
Where every flower had tears hid in its petals,
And every leaf was lovely with the rain.
Held up their hands, and trembled with delight,
While on the gleaming bough the alighting bird
Shook its wet wings like something fresh from heaven.
Was turned; and how the miracle of morning
Had made of leaf and flower a deathless maiden
To be my mate and teach eternity.
The leaf says to the flower when, both adoring,
See like themselves, leaf-shaped and flower-painted,
The sun descend, to bathe in painted shade.
And its wet fragrance, for the treeless town;
But she picked up a dead leaf in the mud,
And she found flowers in the children’s hair.
And every time at evening when it rains,
And every time at morning, when the sun
Bathes in the beauty of that leafy place,
To see if April tears or smiles are there,
And the wet dust scents summer leagues away,
I hold my breath—the Eternal Maid returns.