Apple-green west and an orange bar,
And the crystal eye of a lone, one star . . .
And, “Child, take the shears and cut what you will,
Frost to-night — so clear and dead-still.”
Then, I sally forth, half sad, half proud,
And I come to the velvet, imperial crowd,
The wine-red, the gold, the crimson, the pied, —
The dahlias that reign by the garden-side.
The dahlias I might not touch till to-night!
A gleam of the shears in the fading light,
And I gathered them all, — the splendid throng,
And in one great sheaf I bore them along.
In my garden of Life with its all-late flowers
I heed a Voice in the shrinking hours:
“Frost to-night — so clear and dead-still” . . .
Half sad, half proud, my arms I fill.
(Edith M Thomas)
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Based on Topics: Life Poems, Light Poems, Sadness Poems, Gold Poems, Garden PoemsBased on Keywords: dahlias, wine-red, apple-green, garden-side, dead-still