WHEN Eve had led her lord away, <br />And Cain had killed his brother, <br />The stars and flowers, the poets say, <br />Agreed with one another. <br /> <br />To cheat the cunning tempter's art, <br />And teach the race its duty, <br />By keeping on its wicked heart <br />Their eyes of light and beauty. <br /> <br />A million sleepless lids, they say, <br />Will be at least a warning; <br />And so the flowers would watch by day, <br />The stars from eve to morning. <br /> <br />On hill and prairie, field and lawn, <br />Their dewy eyes upturning, <br />The flowers still watch from reddening dawn <br />Till western skies are burning. <br /> <br />Alas! each hour of daylight tells <br />A tale of shame so crushing, <br />That some turn white as sea-bleached shells, <br />And some are always blushing. <br /> <br />But when the patient stars look down <br />On all their light discovers, <br />The traitor's smile, the murderer's frown, <br />The lips of lying lovers, <br /> <br />They try to shut their saddening eyes, <br />And in the vain endeavor <br />We see them twinkling in the skies, <br />And so they wink forever.<br /><br />Oliver Wendell Holmes<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/album-verses/
