Poem by John Bannister Tabb

Clover

LITTLE masters, hat in hand
Let me in your presence stand,
Till your silence solve for me
This your threefold mystery.

Tell me--for I long to know--
How, in darkness there below,
Was your fairy fabric spun,
Spread and fashioned, three in one.

Did your gossips gold and blue,
Sky and Sunshine, choose for you,
Ere your triple forms were seen,
Suited liveries of green?

Can ye,--if ye dwelt indeed
Captives of a prison seed,--
Like the Genie, once again,
Get you back into the grain?

Little masters, may I stand
In your presence, hat in hand
Waiting till you solve for me
This your threefold mystery?

1. Foot-Soldiers
2. The Baby's Star
3. The Bluebird
4. The Woodpecker
5. The Pleiads

Sidney Lanier Clover ("Inscribed to the Memory of John Keats")

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