The Magician / Lilian Leveridge

from Angelo and Virgilia

I. The Magician

In the world to-night ’tis winter; whistling winds mad revels hold.
God hath cast His ice like morsels. Who can stand before His cold?
Yet a sunny softness lingers where the wild winds meet and part;
For ’tis springtime, rosy springtime — in my heart.

In the city street the lamplight shivers in the gusty blast.
Dim, dumb faces glance and vanish, hurrying footfalls echo past.
Yet I tread the vales of Springland; balmy airs about me blow
From the hillside where the scented blossoms grow.

Hoarsely roar the wheels of traffic, rushing on their tireless quest,
Where the shadows bring no silence, and the midnight hour no rest.
But they pass unheard, unheeded; for I live to-night apart,
Where the birds of morn are singing in my heart.

’Tis your clear, low tones make music, ’tis your touch has magic power
To transform the frozen desert into spring’s emblossomed bower.
’Neath the wan stars’ wintry glimmer, where the wild winds rush and part,
You have planted fragrant roses in my heart.

~~
Lilian Leveridge (1879-1953)
from A Breath of the Woods, 1926

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada]

Lilian Leveridge biography