SECRET FLOWERS
Is love a light for me? A steady light, A lamp within whose pallid pool I dream Over old love-books? Or is it a gleam, A lantern coming towards me from afar Down a dark mountain? Is my love a star? Ah me! so high above—so coldly bright!
The fire dances. Is my love a fire Leaping down the twilight ruddy and bold? Nay, I'd be frightened of him. I'm too cold For quick and eager loving. There's a gold Sheen on these flower petals as they fold More truly mine, more like to my desire.
The flower petals fold. They are by the sun Forgotten. In a shadowy wood they grow Where the dark trees keep up a to-and-fro Shadowy waving. Who will watch them shine When I have dreamed my dream? Ah, darling mine! Find them, gather them for me one by one.
KATHERINE MANSFIELD.
[This poem, recently discovered by Mr. Middleton Murry, was written about 1919.]
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