Amor Umbratilis
 
A gift of Silence, sweet!
   Who may not ever hear;
To lay down at your unobservant feet,
   Is all the gift I bear.
 
I have no songs to sing,
   That you should heed or know:
I have no lilies, in full hands, to fling
   Across the path you go.
 
I cast my flowers away,
   Blossoms unmeet for you!
The garland I have gathered in my day;
   My rosemary and rue.
 
I watch you pass and pass,
   Serene and cold: I lay
My lips upon your trodden, daisied grass,
   And turn my life away.
 
Yea, for I cast you, sweet!
   This one gift, you shall take:
Like ointment, on your unobservant feet,
   My silence, for your sake.


Webpage © 2002 ELC
Lane Core Jr. (lane@elcore.net)
http://poetry.elcore.net/CatholicPoets/Dowson/Dowson08.html
Created November 12, 2002; not revised.