Fancy's Fool

"Cornel, cornel, green and white,     Spreading on the forest floor,     Whither went my lost delight     Through the silent door?"     "Mortal, mortal, overfond,     How come you at all to know     There be any joys beyond     Blisses here and now?"     "Cornel, cornel, white and cool,     Many a mortal, I've heard tell,     Who is only Fancy's fool     Knows that secret well."     "Mortal, mortal, what would you     With that beauty once was yours?     Perishable is the dew,     And the dust endures."     "Cornel, cornel, pierce me not     With your sweet, reserved disdain!     Whisper me of things forgot     That shall be again."     "Mortal, we are kinsmen, led     By a hope beyond our reach.     Know you not the word unsaid     Is the flower of speech?"     All the snowy blossoms faded,     While the scarlet berries grew;     And all summer they evaded     Anything they knew.     "Cornel, cornel, green and red     Flooring for the forest wide,     Whither down the ways of dread     Went my starry-eyed?"     "Mortal, mortal, is there found     Any fruitage half so fair     In the dim world underground     As there grows in air?"     "Wilding cornel, you can guess     Nothing of eternal pain,     Growing there in quietness     In the sun and rain."     "Mortal, where your heart would be     Not a wanderer may go,     But he shares the dark with me     Underneath the snow."     And the scarlet berries scattered     With the coming on of fall;     Not to one of them it mattered     Anything at all.