591. In the Dark by Frances Louisa Bushnell. Stedman, Edmund Clarence, ed. 1900. An American Anthology, 1787-1900

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

591. In the Dark

By Frances Louisa Bushnell


RESTLESS, to-night, and ill at ease,
And finding every place too strait,
I leave the porch shut in with trees,
And wander through the garden-gate.

So dark at first, I have to feel	5
My way before me with my hands;
But soul-like fragrances reveal
My virgin Daphne, where she stands.

Her stars of blossom breathe aloft
Her worship to the stars above;	10
In wavering pulsations soft,
Climbs the sweet incense of her love;

Those far, celestial eyes can dart
Their glances down through leafy bars;
The spark that burns within her heart	15
Was dropped, in answer, from the stars.

She does not find the space too small,
The night too dark, for sweetest bloom;
Content within the garden wall,
Since upward there is always room.	20

Her spotless heart, through all the night,
Holds safe its little vestal spark.
O blessed, if the soul be white,
To breathe and blossom in the dark!