Cambridge Poets 1900–1913

MARTIN D. ARMSTRONG . COWARDICE . THE king cried “ Bring me colour , the heart's wine : Open my treasuries ,” he cried , “ and heap Autumnal rubies , emeralds that shine Like sunlit seas, and sapphires dark and deep As nights of summer , and the shattered glow Of irised opals . Bring me sanguine grapes And tawny -hearted peaches , figs that show The purpled pulp , and nectarous plums whose shapes Hang down like drops of amber . Fill the urns And crystal flagons with clear essences And glutinous syrops ; scatter soft-plumed ferns And flowers with crimson throats or cavities Cupped with sea- blue, and sunset dahlias, And sun -flowers round whose fulgent discs are curled Tongues of gold flame, like an ethereal blaze That forged the substance of the teeming world ." They brought him jewels from the treasuries And poured them forth before him ,- sapphires blue As southern nights , rubies , chalcedonies , And fiery opals . Slaves in order due