Sonnet XII By Alan Seeger

    Like as a dryad, from her native bole
    Coming at dusk, when the dim stars emerge,
    To a slow river at whose silent verge
    Tall poplars tremble and deep grasses roll,
    Come thou no less and, kneeling in a shoal
    Of the freaked flag and meadow buttercup,
    Bend till thine image from the pool beam up
    Arched with blue heaven like an aureole.
    See how adorable in fancy then
    Lives the fair face it mirrors even so,
    O thou whose beauty moving among men
    Is like the wind’s way on the woods below,
    Filling all nature where its pathway lies
    With arms that supplicate and trembling sighs.