Hunch not, my dearest, though the path be thick
With thorny boughs and leafy green veneers.
Let not the dew of flora damp your wick;
Allow her branches through their staunch careers.
Then send a signal to thy fragile spine
That towards the sun thy sadness may grow tall;
A simple, firm re-bend can trunks align,
And what had drooped may prove not weak at all.
And reach -- fair dearest -- through the Earth's brown sty
Through stony blankets watch thy flowers bloom --
For what is mineral is doubled high --
This sediment bows to atmospheric doom.
Thy strength, though infinite, finds form in now,
And weakness now may flourish moments nigh.