Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
AlchemyFlorence Kilpatrick Mixter
T
They were blind to your heart’s beauty,
Deaf to your spirit’s voice,
And dumb in the presence of your holiness.
But they felt a vague warmth
In their cold hands
As you passed.
And so they reached out
For your flaming soul;
Throwing it on their own dead altar-fires,
Warming their numb fingers in the golden flame
That rose to Heaven,
Flickered,
And went out.
Somewhere, among the scattered ashes,
Lies the matrix-stone
Of your imperishable beauty.