Amarant
Immortal Amarant, a Flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life
Began to bloom, but soon for man’s offence
To Heav'n removed where first it grew, there grows,
And flowers aloft shading the Fount of Life.
And where the river of Bliss through midst of Heaven
Rolls o're Elysian Flowers her Amber stream;
With these that never fade the Spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks inwreath'd with beams.
Paradise Lost, III: 353-361.
Where Love-Lies-Bleeding stretches all bejeweled,
I watch the fields that purple with their blood,
Incarnate flowers quicker turn to red,
A spark, a torch, forgotten in a flood.
Was this their care and that a sign, to light
The mind of spice that fills the heart? Or must
The crimson drape of time obscure the flight
Of sunlight fleeing from the mind of dust?
There flowers bloom a vein of Love and Life
To wind about a disembodied cross,
But lose into the earthly air their life,
As night, dark sun, burns darkly on their loss.
And now my heart is but an aging sack,
For Love's gone to the world and won't come back.
From their blissful Bowers
Of Amarantin Shade, Fountain or Spring,
By the waters of Life, where ere they sat
In fellowships of joy: the Sons of Light
Hasted.
Paradise Lost, XI: 77-81f.
~~
AE Reiff
[All rights reserved by the author - Used with permission]
