Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-12-06
THE TULIP.
Lebanon Herald.

THE TULIP.
Lebanon Herald.
\ | In softly-silent, sheltered space,
In the lee of garden wall,
| A tulip climbed INTO April Light,
. Slender, straiget and tail.
| A strong white rose, whose SOW buds waited
Warm june wind-kisses to burst in bloom,
Grew rank and green on the hither side,
And watched, expectant and elated,
/ The tenderer dower that dared the gloom,
And gust, and chill Of first Spring-tide.
o, passing fair she stood at even,
Waiting the morrow to burst In foweri
A near cloud, hung in rainy heaven,
| Feltt mis- heart her sweet new power.
| A slow bright diamond, love-engraven,
Softly fell from the scarce-veiled blue;
| Straight it fell, untOssed, undriven,
"To the fairest, Love-" was its message true
| But the tulip needed nRught above her;
The proud head bent: ssNo l0ve-gift bring:
| 1 wait and watch for royal lover,
Whose kiss is sunbeam-my kingl my kingln
| The cloud, in anger at her scorning,
Spread grey and sullen DER all the sky;
] warm wet South wind blew at morning,
And slowly the fearful day went BY,
| The wind sang low: 80 fairest maiden,
A wanderer wild DER land and sea,
With million measures of balm-breath laden,
1 tarry-0pen your heart to me-"
1 The trembling tulip would not uncover
She sighed, ftYou are gentle and softly sing,
| But my heart is held for royal lover
Iwait for his coming, my ing, my king!"
| Sadly the sweet wind her low words listened,
Then bravely strengthened and blew away;
The jealous cloud and rain tears glistened
In the clearest lag ut at the rise OF day,
For he knew that love, TO be worth the giving,
From the dross Of self must be purely freed,
And work without hope for love that is dead!
What debt she owed TO tie loyal rover,
The tulip rocked not, but quivering
With pain Of joy, met her royal lover
"At last can blossom, my king, my king!"
Backward the red gold petals Blended,
as burned the day to its fierce noon glare,
Till, full in the flush Of the fervid beaming,
The foolish iOwer all her heart laid bare;
For aye forgot was the long, green quiet,
The wind and the dew that had nursed the
In this mad, sweet love-life all-a-riot-
An age of bliss in one bright, brief hour,
The wiser rose bent Low above her
''Bswarei Take warning, o queen of Spring.
The yelled heart longest keeps lover;
Take heed, or you die Of this burning king
The tulip shivered, but staunchly loval,
The slender stalk from the shadow bent
''Who cost counts merits no gift so royal;
Ny love is my life, and die content;
The cloud gift was bright, and the low wind
tender;
From them We gave me no sheltering;
blOOmed for one only, and gladly render
Ny life for his lOve-kiss, my king, my kingi'
The cloud and the sun went down at even;
The proud rose rustled, Poor silly thing!"
And the wind made plant to q stsr-strewn
For his dead fair love and her needless king.
S.M.A.C.
GAINESVILLE Tobacco Leaf
A poem, by Miss S. NJ. A. c., of this
county, published in the Lebanon Herald
last week, will be found ON the third page
of this paper. We ask for it a careful read
mo fs,ri inf bo for fInr
divine afflatus, true poetic genius, and a
vigOr of poetic idea and expression not
very common to female poets.
We seldom criticise poetry, for we sell
dom meet with any, coming from our lin
tied circle, that merits either favorable no
tice, criticism, or even fault finding.
1t is a story Of tulips passionate love. |
The love-lorn flower is truly woman; and |
''my king" but typifes the power she
would bow to and love and worship, the |
burning passion she would be wooed and |
won by. She is content to love, though /
love were death. The sun-king is the love |
king. Though it be momentary and end /
in death, she would not exchange the brief /
delirium of an all-absOrbing passion, and /
the wild delight of a lOve-inficted death,
for the weak, pulling passion of the rainy
cloud, fearful and melting; nor for the low
Of the ''Sweet SOuth"-the
leIeS SIJSSluTi, of balmy South wind, dew
laden and signing softly. Her hero must
come ''cODquering and to conquer" A
long time of loving, an age of calm, quiet
happiness in long-continued loving, she
casts aside for moments burning, idola-
trous devotion, and yields herself plastic TO
The sun-god's fervent heat and melts be-
meath his fierce loving, content to enjoy all
Of heaven in an hours embrace, welded at
once to love and death.
1t is woman's place, in poetry at least.
She ministers to superior power, enjoys the
fierce love that kills, and casts grateful
glance, even in the agony of death, thank
full for love, though coupled with death.
The Sun-god moves on in unclouded
splendid, with undated warmth of beam,
and strength undiminished, to WOO and wed
and kill again.
II is a partial view, no doubt, but it is
nearly a truthful picture. The fair author
sees the passions and feelings with true
poets glance. There are many, no doubt,
who accept the love of the querelOas rain
cloud, and many others who are woOed and
WOOed by the calm and constant south wind
until all hope of the Sun-cOd's love is gone,
and then are Won-yielding to a quiet en-
oyment of calm and placid love; but
hat is no proof that they did not crave the
fierce love of the fervent sun.
The duenna rOse-pTim old maid, Miss
Prudencel The sproud roses rustle'' has
4 flavor of envy, with its contempt. She
would have rejected the advice she gave the
.ulip.
1t is plain that the writer is most enam-
)ured of the South-winds calm, constant,
Inselfsh love.
We hope thevein of poetry may be cul-
ivated; it is rich mine, and if there be
lrOSs here and there it only shows that it
IS real vein, and not what would be call
ed in miners parlance '1salted placer"
In the sixth verse, first stanza s'Wind-
kisses" is extremely faulty. Third stanza,
ninth verse, "uncover," fails TO express the
idea.
The inversion, "who cost counts" in
sixth stanza, third verse, shows a momenta-
v obscurity in an important part of the
poem. and mars just little. ''My love is
my life and | die content" "LOye-k kiss"
sixth stanza,leighth verse, is another of
hose Derilous compounds, which are so
tempting and yet so dangerous in English.
They either strengthen or they weaken be-
yond any other diluent.
In the first stanza the alteration makes
a very proper Introductory line, and the
whole stanza is musical, with sibillants,
liquids, continuous cOnsOnants and semi
vOwels. The versi6cation is excellent. We
have pointed out one or two defects. We
might, with more space, being carefully
critical, show other faults, which close
study and careful weighing Of words and
would have avoided. They
would be unnoticed in an inferior produc-
ion; with the ideas, we have no fault to
ind. We regret that We do not feel au-
.horized to liftthe veil of the nom de plume.
Few will fail to recognize her, however, as
'ne who wields a pen powerful in prose;
ogical, skilled in principles usually left to
masculine minds, gracefully gay and hu-
norous when she wills, and withal, truly
/ woman. We have before urged her to
eek wider field.
ARIEL