Hilda Doolittle




Sea Poppies

Amber husk  
fluted with gold,  
fruit on the sand  
marked with a rich grain,  
 
treasure  
spilled near the shrub-pines   
to bleach on the boulders:  
 
your stalk has caught root   
among wet pebbles  
and drift flung by the sea   
and grated shells  
and split conch-shells.  
 
Beautiful, wide-spread,   
fire upon leaf,  
what meadow yields  
so fragrant a leaf  
as your bright leaf?