Page:The ascent of man by Blind, Mathilde.djvu/113

 Fading lilacs May's farewell betoken,
 * Fledglings fly and soon forget the nest;

Lightly may a young man's vows be broken,
 * And the heart break in a woman's breast.

Gathered like a sprig of summer roses
 * In the dewy morn and flung away,

To the girl the father's door now closes,
 * Let her shelter henceforth how she may.

Who will house the miserable mother
 * With her child, a helpless castaway!

"I, am I the keeper of my brother?"
 * Asks smug virtue as it turns to pray!

Lovely are the earliest Lenten lilies,
 * Primrose pleiads, hyacinthine sheets;

Stripped and rifled from their pastoral valleys,
 * See them sold now in the public streets!

Other flowers are sold there besides posies—
 * Eyes may have the hyacinth's glowing blue.