Classic Poem

" Give me the dark sky's windy gates, "
I said:
" The doors at which the sunset waits
With threatening robes of lurid red.

" I love the beating of the storm's
Black wing;
With its own hues pale grief informs
The world, and poisons with its sting.

" When through the wet leaves pours the hail
Malign,
I love the cold darts that assail
The timorous rose, the shivering vine.

" The dark heart loves the gloom, and dreads
The sun;
It loves the wind that tears to shreds
The blossom-petals, one by one. "

*****

But on my heart, that struggled hard
And long
The sunlit moment to retard,
There fell the sound of song: —

" The leaves are green, the sky is blue,
The air
That lifts the gloom from earth, from you
Lifts somewhat of despair.

" Canst thou be sad, when blossoms weave
Their crowns
From fragrant morn till fragrant eve,
Aye, even in heart of towns?

" Canst thou be dark of soul, when bright
And gay
Upon thee gleams with loving light
The sunniest smile of May? "