A Recollection.

IN my heart there is a fragrance not of bursting buds or bloom,

But a faint delicious essence floats as out of memory’s room.

Like a zephyr blown from heaven some sweet message to impart,

Comes a fragile recollection down the by-path to my heart.

Fragile did I say? So fragile that the lace-wrought butterfly

Would not tilt its wings to bear it back from earth into the sky.

Yet perplexed as to its mission down the pathway I retreat,