Classic Poem

I BROKE one day a slender stem,
Thick-set with little golden horns,
Half bud, half blossom, and a gem —
Such as one finds in autumn morns
When all the grass with dew is strung —
On every fairy bugle hung.

Careless, I dropped it, in a place
Where no light shone, and so forgot
Its delicate, dewy, flowering grace,
Till presently from the dark spot
A charming sense of sweetness came,
That woke an answering sense of shame.

Quickly I thought, O heart of mine,
A lesson for thee plain to read:
Thou needest not that light should shine,
Or fellow-men thy virtues heed:
Enough — if haply this be so —
That thou hast sweetness to bestow!