You bear a flower in your hand, <br />You softly take it through the air, <br />Lest it should be too roughly fanned, <br />And break and fall, for all your care. <br /> <br />Love is like that, the lightest breath <br />Shakes all its blossoms o'er the land, <br />And its mysterious cousin, Death, <br />Waits but to snatch it from your hand. <br /> <br />O some day, should your hand forget, <br />Your guardian eyes stray otherwhere, <br />Your cheeks shall all in vain be wet, <br />Vain all your penance and your prayer. <br /> <br />God gave you once this creature fair, <br />You two mysteriously met; <br />By Time's strange stream <br />There stood this Dream, <br />This lovely Immortality <br />Given your mortal eyes to see, <br />That might have been your darling yet; <br />But in the place <br />Of her strange face <br />Sorrow will stand forever more, <br />And Sorrow's hand be on your brow, <br />And vainly you shall watch the door <br />For her so lightly with you now, <br />And all the world be as before. <br />Ah; Spring shall sing and Summer bloom, <br />And flowers fill Life's empty room, <br />And all the singers sing in vain, <br />Nor bring you back your flower again. <br /> <br />O have a care!--for this is all: <br />Let not your magic blossom fall.<br /><br />Richard Le Gallienne<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-magic-flower/
