Page:Florence Earle Coates Poems 1898 134.jpg

 THROUGH THE RUSHES

the rushes by the river

Runs a drowsy tremor sweet,

And the waters stir and shiver

In the darkness at their feet;

From the sombre east up-stealing,

Gradual, with slow revealing,

Comes the dawn, and with a sigh,

Night goes by.

Here and there, to mildest wooing,

Folded buds are open blown;

And the drops their leaves bedewing,

Like to seed-pearls thickly sown,

Sinking, with the blessing olden,

Deep into each calyx golden,

A supreme behest obey,

Then melt away.

And while robes of splendor trailing,

Fitly deck the glowing morn,

And a fragrance, fresh exhaling,

Greets her loveliness new-born, 134