Versamelde gedigte

The Kaffirboom

Scarlet I splashed to the morning haze,

With a moiety of tender green,

The affluent spikes of my branch ablaze

Like a gaudily garbed queen.

I called with my clamorous colour, ‘Come,

Whoever delights to dally and dream.’

And heard in my petals the wild bees hum,

And in my beauty the hornbills scream.

I dropped my burden of flowered flame,

Too rich a treasure to bear for long,

To make a carpet for those that came

To sing in my shelter their casual song.

The blue of the Sun-friend's beauty shines,

A dainty, delicate, dreamy blue;

A streak of morning incarnadines

The Sicklethorn's flowers of fairy hue.

The wild Wistaria steals the shade

That darkens the ranges at eventide,

And the Monkey-mimosa in gold arrayed

Reflects at midday the hard sun's pride.

I envy none, for my scarlet gleams

Aloft for a wakening world to view

As it slowly turns from its winter dreams

To a softer spring than it ever knew.

For as the cycle of seasons turns,

Frost following fire and the green the red,

My glory unbuds and it lights and burns

In splendid beauty of scarlet spread.