| The west wind was a rover, and a gallant one and free;
(The neighborly red clover thus related it to me) He sauntered through the garden, very swift and debonair, And paid the princeliest of court to every flower there. But the flaming salvia flaunted him, The dainty asters taunted him, The dahlia feigned indifference, though in her heart she wanted him. The holly-hocks and four-o-clocks: "No, thank you, not today!" Was the mocking word they flung him, as he whistled down the way. The west wind was a wanderer and a fine Lothario; (It must be common gossip, for the clover told me so) He was, in all his gallantries, most indiscriminate, But the gay sultana greeted him in manner most sedate. They passed the time o' day with him, No other word they'd say with him, For all he was so charming and had such a breezy way with him. The mourning bride for whom he sighed ___ she wouldn't raise her head; For all his vows, the bleeding heart remained uncomforted. , The west wind went philandering wherever he saw fit; (It's really quite a scandal when you come to think of it) He stole away one autumn day ___ it made an awful stir ___ And all the garden grieved for him, so penitent they were. Yet the salvia had flouted him, The dahlia sorely doubted him, In delicate disdain the asters scornfully had routed him. They hung their poor pathetic heads___ (the clover said they cried) And, one by one, conveniently and quietly, they died! |
The Call of Kansas and Other Poems
Esther M. (Clark) Hill
(Cedar Rapids: Torch Press. __)
Page 45
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