2The sun shone o'er the clouds so dark,
As dark as dark could be,
And we alone passed by the throne
Of earth that cursed the sea.
To me it was a forest damned,
Where man could never tread,
But she saw in it Ferdinand.
It glowed in her sweet head.
"Look!" she said, "A marigold!
Upon the tufted green!"
I turned my head to emerald
To see what she could see.
But I saw not the marigold
Nor grass so green with glee.
There upon the dust so bear
There stood a willow tree
And up upon its rotted top,
There croaked a crow times three.
She looked at me and laughed a bit.
I turned my eyes aside,
And whispered in a bitter fit,
"Where doth your heart reside?
What demon hath your lip now bit?"
And she could not abide
My troubled will, my careful stride.
And there I left the marigold,
So daft among the bitter trees.
There was no beauty in its boughs,
No love among its breeze.
And there I left the willow tree,
So cursed by lack of praise.
It cast its shadow, pale, dark green
Upon the weeping glades.
And never shall I e'er return,
Nor graze the ranks of emerald,
Nor, for the matter, ever fold.
And all the time from now to then
Will always serve to that condemn
The bright-eyed marigold.
8/6/04