Classic Poem

As Morning you'd have me rise
On that shining world of art;
You forget: I have too much dark in my eyes—
And too much dark in my heart.

“Then go as the Night—in June:
Pass, dreamily, by the crowd,
With jewels to mock the stars and the moon,
And shadowy robes like cloud.

“Or as Spring, with a spray in your hair
Of blossoms as yet unblown;
It will suit you well, for our youth should wear
The bloom in the bud alone.

“Or drift from the outer gloom
With the soft white silence of Snow:”
I should melt myself with the warm, close room—
Or my own life's burning. No.

“Then fly through the glitter and mirth
As a Bird of Paradise:”
Nay, the waters I drink have touch'd the earth;
I breathe no summer of spice.

“Then——” Hush: if I go at all,
(It will make them stare and shrink,
It will look so strange at a Fancy Ball)
I will go as——Myself, I think!