THE WAITING FOR LILACS

Hearts brief encounter
With dew and youth
And lanes of laughter.
With scarlet lips begging
To be kissed,
And with silent vows and lilacs.

The sun charred white clover blossoms,
Clouds shadowed the hollyhocks,
Trees bent in hailstorm
And it was dark beyond the door.

Red rose-hips crouched in autumn hedges,
Purple ashes petals shivered in every wind,
And the cliff resounded in fear.

There is new ice on the pond
And a convey of quail in brittle wheat.

Winter is beside him--
Courage is lonely.

Prayer in the midnight.
The hope, the waiting for daybreak
And lilacs.