"Laurels"

Laurels

“Oh, tell me, Sweet, where the laurels grow,
        My heart is eager—I long to go.”
“They grow on the mountain crest,” she said,
        With trembling lips and drooping head;
“But the thorns are deep and the way is steep,
        ‘Twere better to be content, love-led.”

But he kissed her lips and he left her there,
        Oh, he kissed her lips and her golden hair;
“I will pluck the laurels,” he said, “my Sweet,
        And bring them to lay at my true love’s feet;”
So he breathed a prayer and left her there,
        And climbed the mountain, strong and fleet.

And the years fled by. With a happy song

        He gathered his laurels, proud and strong;
But when he brought them to crown his Sweet,
        There was only a grave at his restless feet;
And he would cast down his laurel crown
        Could he kiss her heart to a single beat.

"Laurels" as it appears in Ella Higginson's The Voice of April-Land and Other Poems (1903).