Dancing Dust |
|
Poems by Mollie Caird (1922-2000) |
|
Fritillary |
|
Home Alphabetic index of poems Thematic index of poems Biography Gallery Contact and links |
Fields there are in Oxfordshire Where cowslips grow, and strawberry, And all the fragile brightness is Of blackthorn and the wild white cherry, But their enchantment cannot break The spell of one fritillary. For I beheld her where she grew, And knew her as the serpent wise, Mocking all the primroses With slanting supercilious eyes, Drooping her dusty-purple wings, Spotted as a butterfly's. I plucked her and put her in a glass, And watched her dark rebellious sorrow, Hoping, yet half fearing her Symbolic of the world's tomorrow. Undated, c1941 |