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. 



