garden gate

by Katherine Mansfield (1888 - 1923)

Secret Flowers

Is love a light for me? A steady light,

A lamp within whose pallid pool I dream

Over old love-books? Or is it a gleam,

A lantern coming towards me from afar

Down a dark mountain? Is my love a star?

Ah me! -so high above so coldly bright!

The fire dances. Is my love a fire

Leaping down the twilight muddy and bold?

Nay, I’d be frightened of him. I’m too cold

For a quick and eager loving. There’s a gold

Sheen on these flower petals as they fold

More truly mine, more like to my desire.

The flower petals fold. They are by the sun

Forgotten. In a shadowy wood they grow

Where the dark trees keep up a to-and-fro

Shadowy waving. Who will watch them shine

When I have dreamed my dream? Ah, darling mine,

Find Them, gather them for me one by one.