GREEN FLOWERS 41 



minute Orchideae — will await the finder in varied garb 

 of malachite or olive, beryl or aquamarine. 



Now in this misty March hour of swelling buds 

 and rising sap, I passed down that great hill again, 

 while sun and silver rain strove for mastery, and 

 bred a rainbow from their strife. Far beneath 

 my standpoint it extended, and chance ordered 

 the purple and gold to leap from one side of a 

 water-meadow to distant woodlands that glowed 

 behind it like a fairy kingdom built of gems. Its 

 keystone was set against dark pavilions of unshed 

 rain, and, rising from the amber of a young withy 

 bed, the arch spanned a dozen homesteads ere 

 its southern foot fell among great trees that stood as 

 sentinels of the wood. From osier to elm it passed ; 

 from the frail fabric of man's cradle to the wine-red 

 timbers that build his coffin swept the bow across 

 heaven — a symbol of the pathetic and eternal hope 

 knitted into this fabric of conscious existence ; hope 

 —the leaven of humanity's daily bread ; the beacon 

 that lights many an eye, warms many a cold heart 

 upon the brief and stormy journey of man's days. 



