A black cat among roses,
Phlox, lilac-misted under a first-quarter moon,
The sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock.
The garden is very still,
It is dazed with moonlight,
Contented with perfume,
Dreaming the opium dreams of its folded poppies.
Firefly lights open and vanish
High as the tip buds of the golden glow
Low as the sweet alyssum flowers at my feet.
Moon-shimmer on leaves and trellises,
Moon-spikes shafting through the snowball bush.
Only the little faces of the ladies’ delight are alert and staring,
Only the cat, padding between the roses,
Shakes a branch and breaks the chequered pattern
As water is broken by the falling of a leaf.
Then you come,
And you are quiet like the garden,
And white like the alyssum flowers,
And beautiful as the silent sparks of the fireflies.
Ah, Beloved, do you see those orange lilies?
They knew my mother,
But who belonging to me will they know
When I am gone.
(Amy Lowell)
More Poetry from Amy Lowell:
Amy Lowell Poems based on Topics: Water, Flowers, Garden, Mothers, Dreaming, Cats- Towns in Colour (Amy Lowell Poems)
- Lilacs (Amy Lowell Poems)
- The Swans (Amy Lowell Poems)
- Twenty-Four Hokku On A Modern Theme (Amy Lowell Poems)
- Stravinsky's (Amy Lowell Poems)
- Diya (Amy Lowell Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Flowers Poems, Mothers Poems, Water Poems, Garden Poems, Dreaming Poems, Cats PoemsBased on Keywords: opium, padding, heliotrope, phlox, firefly, chequered, snowball, trellises, alyssum, night-scented, first-quarter