LONGING, a poem

THE lilacs blossom at the door,
          The early rose
Whispers a promise to her buds,
          And they unclose.

There is a perfume everywhere,
          A breath of song,
A sense of some divine return
          For waiting long.

Who knows but some imprisoned joy
          From bondage breaks,—
Some exiled and enchanted hope
          From dreams awakes?

Who knows but you are coming back
          To comfort me
For all the languor and the pain,
          Persephone?

O come! For one brief spring return,
          Love's tryst to keep;
Then let me share the Stygian fruit,
          The wintry sleep!

"Longing" by Florence Earle Coates. Published in Poet-lore (January 1898), Poems (1898) and Poems (1916) Volume II.

Proserpina with Pomegranate (1882)
by Dante Gabriel Rosetti