A LITTLE LOVE SONG

My heart was like a sunless, cold, Unlovely land of ice and snow, Wherein no blessed buds unfold, Nor singing waters flow.

Then all at once the April skies Laughed in your look, and at that hour My spirit melted, torrent-wise, My life broke into flower!

O dearest heart, I had not guessed What marvel of immortal seeds Lay hidden deep within my breast, Beneath its barren weeds!

But now I know, but now I know The glory of the flower of love, The joyous splendor of its glow, The subtile pain thereof!