Colombine

Chapter 21: THE POPPY AND THE POET

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

Set on a windswept hill that hides ancient Roman traces and fairy rings, the fantasy play blends rustic vernacular and commedia dell'arte figures to stage scenes of memory, folklore, and romantic rivalry. A fairylike maid meets two country labourers, recounts the site's layered past, and foretells a comic, ritualized duel between Harlequin and Pierrot for her affection. Interwoven prologue poems and stage tableaux alternate lyrical reflections on time and place with light comedy, costume spectacle, and debates about love, fate, and the endurance of ritual. The piece balances pastoral atmosphere, nostalgia, and theatricality in brief, episodic scenes voiced in verse and colloquial dialogue.

THE POPPY AND THE POET

Like poppies in the golden corn,

The poet’s race is run;

Each strives alike to gain the ear;

The poppy from the sun

Borrows more radiance than gold—

A poet’s much the same, I’m told.

But still these differences appear

When everything is said;

The poet’s leaves, I greatly fear,

Are very seldom read.

Poppies but borrow from the sun—

A poet will from anyone.