Apology

Be not angry with me that I bear   Your colors everywhere,   All through each crowded street,     And meet   The wonder-light in every eye,     As I go by. Each plodding wayfarer looks up to gaze,   Blinded by rainbow-haze,   The stuff of happiness,     No less,   Which wraps me in its glad-hued folds     Of peacock golds. Before my feet the dusty, rough-paved way   Flushes beneath its gray.   My steps fall ringed with light,     So bright   It seems a myriad suns are strown     About the town. Around me is the sound of steepled bells,   And rich perfumèd smells   Hang like a wind-forgotten cloud,     And shroud   Me from close contact with the world.     I dwell, impearled. You blazon me with jewelled insignia.   A flaming nebula   Rims in my life. And yet     You set   The word upon me, unconfessed,     To go unguessed.