Verse and Reverse (1921)/The Mullein

High on the crest of a lonely hill
Á tall young mullein grew
Yearning to touch with yellow tip
The cloud-decked roof of blue.

It might have bent towards purple woods
And red-gold harvest-fields,
Or far faint hills or misted lake,
Delights earth-beauty yields.

But though it grew a foot or more
Beyond the height of man
Its earnest aim it could not reach
Within the summer span.

The architect who first divined
The spirit-force of spires
Must first have scanned the mullein's form
And felt its high desires.