IV.

Probation.


Could I, O Love! obtain a charter clear
To be thy bard, in all thy nights and days,
I would consult the stars, from year to year,
And talk with trees, and learn of them their ways,
And why the nymphs so seldom now appear
In human form, with rapt and earnest gaze;
And I would learn of thee why joy decays,
And why the Fauns have ceas'd to flourish here.
I would, in answer to the wind's "Alas!"
Explain the causes of a sorrow's flight;
I would peruse the writing on the grass
Which flowers have traced in blue and red and white;
And, reading these, I would, as from a pen,
Read thoughts of thine unguess'd by other men!