Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/244

 238 BLOOM ABOVE, AND LABOR UNDER.

��BLOOM ABOVE, AND LABOR UNDER.

JUST beyond the line of faces, All along the city car, Lo ! I saw a florist s triumph,

Made of blossom, bell and star

Saw a fairy temple woven,

From which triple baskets hung :

Red and white and azure clusters, Through, and under, tendrils swung.

Fuchsias drooped, a fringe of scarlet, Geraniums clung round about,

Begonia leaves with velvet shadows Threw each tender tinting out.

In among the twining greenness, Clasping close the fragile stand,

Just beneath the fairy roofing Saw I too a mournful hand

Boyish, red, and rough and dingy, Thrust beyond a ragged sleeve,

Telling me its owner s story, Quite without its owner s leave.

Ragged sleeve said, &quot;Motherless;&quot;

Grime and grace said, &quot;Youth and trade.&quot;

Slender wrist and fingers whispered,

&quot;Born for sword, but doomed to spade.&quot;

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