Snapdragons Blooming in the Bower  

My head clouds as though draped in shrouds of fate;
  Shadows wrought by sudden remembered scenes
That fill full my heart as with some leaden weight.
  In my eye I find no viable means
Of extricating joy from this dark hour.
  When the dream is done, the price must be paid!
Unseemly that I should glean rue this day
  From snapdragons blooming in the bower!
But sunshine gives way to deepening shade -
  This moment and I shall soon fade, as they.

~ Daniel F Mitchell

Who is this intelligence I see
Staring in disbelief at me?
O soul, O mysterious fire,
To what do we aspire?
Is this all that we are -
A reflection of a star?
A teardrop upon the water of endeavor?
A concentric ripple fallen across forever?

~ Daniel F Mitchell