CARDINAL FLOWER. 



SLOWLY the black water gathers in 

 To itself a hundred folded lines ; 



Thro the yellow willows at its brim 



Pale and cold the waning sunlight shines, 



As the Autumn color waxes dim. 



To the westward burns the smoldering day, 

 Still and solemn, in the sunset sky ; 



In the purple hollows far away 



Shadowy veils of early evening lie, 



And the distant mountain-tops are gray. 



In the stagnant pool, stirred by a breath, 

 All the shifting light and color lies, 



In its shallows, dim with brooding death, 

 All the sweeping splendors of the skies 



Glass themselves, and scatter light beneath. 



85 



