Fancy's Fool

“Cornel, cornel, green and white,

Spreading on the forest floor,

Whither went my lost delight

Through the silent door?”

“Mortal, mortal, overfond,

How come you at all to know

There be any joys beyond

Blisses here and now?”

“Cornel, cornel, white and cool,

Many a mortal, I've heard tell,

Who is only Fancy's fool

Knows that secret well.”

“Mortal, mortal, what would you

With that beauty once was yours?

Perishable is the dew,

And the dust endures.”

“Cornel, cornel, pierce me not

With your sweet, reserved disdain!

Whisper me of things forgot

That shall be again.”

“Mortal, we are kinsmen, led

By a hope beyond our reach.

Know you not the word unsaid

Is the flower of speech?”

All the snowy blossoms faded,

While the scarlet berries grew;

And all summer they evaded

Anything they knew.

“Cornel, cornel, green and red

Flooring for the forest wide,

Whither down the ways of dread

Went my starry-eyed?”

“Mortal, mortal, is there found

Any fruitage half so fair

In the dim world underground

As there grows in air?”

“Wilding cornel, you can guess

Nothing of eternal pain,

Growing there in quietness

In the sun and rain.”

“Mortal, where your heart would be

Not a wanderer may go,

But he shares the dark with me

Underneath the snow.”

And the scarlet berries scattered

With the coming on of fall;

Not to one of them it mattered

Anything at all.