January / Edwin Arnold

from The Twelve Months

January

Rain — hail — sleet — snow! — Yet, in my East,
This is the time when palm-trees quicken
With flowers, wherefrom the Arabs' feast
Of amber dates will thenceforth thicken.

Palms, — he and she, — in sight they grow;
And o'er the desert-sands is wafted,
On light airs of the After-glow,
That golden dust whence fruit is grafted.

Ah, happy trees! who feel no frost
Of winter-time, to chill your gladness;
And grow not close enough for cost
Of bliss fulfilled, which heightens sadness;

No gray reality's alloy
Your green ideal can diminish!
You have love's kiss, in all its joy
, Without love's lips, which let it finish!

~~

Edwin Arnold (1832-1904)

from Poems: National and non-oriental, 1906

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide]

Edwin Arnold biography

Ahmad Elq, Paul Trees in Saudi Arabia, 2012. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.