Edith Nesbit

THROUGH her fair world of blossoms fresh and bright,
Veiled with her maiden innocence, she goes;
Not all the splendour of the waxing light
She sees, nor all the colour of the rose;…

THE enchanted hour,
The magic bower,
Where, crowned with roses,
Love love discloses.“Kiss me, my lover;…

ONCE I made for you songs,
Rondels, triolets, sonnets;
Verse that my love deemed due,
Verse that your love found fair.…

HERE is the dim enchanted wood
Your face, a mystery divine,
But half revealed, half understood,
Appears the counterpart of mine.Beyond the wood the daylight lies;…

EP first,
And let the storm and winter do their worst;
Let all the garden lie
Bare to the angry sky

ET them sing of their primrose and cowslip,
Their daffodil-gold-coloured hair,
Their bluebells, blue eyes, and white violets,
All the pale dreamy things they find fair;

When I lived in the village of
There were lilies in all the orchards,
Flowers in the
For brides to wear in their hair.

MANY’S the time I’ve found your face
Fresh as a bunch of flowers in May,
Waiting for me at our own old place
At the end of the working day.…

THERE is a garden made for our delight,
Where all the dreams we dare not dream come true.
I know it, but I do not know the way.
We slip and tumble in the doubtful night,…

THEY talk about gardens of roses,
And moonlight over the sea,
And mountains and snow
And sunsetty glow,…

IF Jesus came to London,
Came to London to-day,
He would not go to the West End,
He would come down our way;…

Dearest, if I almost cease to weep for you,
Do not doubt I love you just the same;
"Tis because my life has grown to keep for you
All the hours that sorrow does not claim.All the hours when I may steal away to you,…

And you have me and I have you,
When there are roses all the way,
And April days and nights of May,
And life is joy the whole day long-- Not now can passion flower in song.

ACROSS the field of day
In sudden blazon lay
The pallid bar of gold
Borne on the shield of day.…

PALE veil of mist bound round the trees
Pale fringe of rain upon the hills,
Cold earth, cold sky and biting breeze
That mock the withered daffodils.…

ITHE white snow veils the earth's brown face,
Strong frost has bound the veil in place--
Under the wide, clear, dark-blue sky
All choked with snow the hollows lie,…

Shoulders of upland brown laid dark to the sunset's bosom,
Living amber of wheat, and copper of new-ploughed loam,
Downs where the white sheep wander, little gardens in blossom,
Roads that wind through the twilight up to the lights…

ITHERE was never winter, summer only: roses,
Pink and white and red,
Shining down the warm rich garden closes;
Quiet trees and lawns of dappled shadow,…

Your touch on my hand is fire,
Your lips on my lips are flowers.
My darling, my one desire,
Dear crown of my days and hours.…

WHEN I was little and good
I walked in the dappled wood
Where light white windflowers grew,
And hyacinths heavy and blue.The windflowers fluttered light,…

IF you loved me I could trust you to your fancy’s furthest bound
While the sun shone and the wind blew, and the world went round,
To the utmost of the meshes of the devil’s strongest net . . .
If you loved me, if you loved me—but you do not love me yet!I love you—and I cannot trust you further than the door!…

KNOWING our needs, hardly knowing our powers,
Hear how we cry to you, brothers of ours!--
Brothers in nature, pulse, passions, and pains,
Our sins in you, and your blood in our veins.…

My window, framed in pear-tree bloom,
White-curtained shone, and softly lighted:
So, by the pear-tree, to my
Your ghost last night climbed uninvited.

AFTER SEDGMOORYOU need not call at the Inn;
I have ordered my bed:
Fair linen sheets therein
And a tester of lead.…