Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/190

THE CARIB SEA To yonder mountain—in the moonlight cast

Their scrolls' deep shadows on the glassy floor.

A proud exotic Rose, brought from the North,

Is set within the one; the other bears

A double Jasmine for its counter-charm.

Here on their thrones, in equal high estate,

The rivals bloom; and both have drunk the dew,

Tending their beauty in the midnight air,

Until their sovereign odors meet and blend,

As voices blend that whisper melody,

Now each distinct, now mingled both in one:

JASMINE

I, like a star, against the woven gloom

Of tresses on Dolores' brow shall rest.

ROSE

And I one happy, happy night shall bloom

Twined in the border of her silken vest.

JASMINE

Throughout our isle the guardian winds deprive

Of all their sweets a hundred common flowers, 170