One night I lingered in the wood
And saw a spirit-form that stood
Among the wildflowers. Like the dew
It twinkled; partly wind and scent;
Then down a moonbeam there it blew,
And like a gleam of water went.
Or was it but a dream that grew
Out of the wind and dew and scent.
Could I have seized it, made it mine,
As poets have the thought divine
Of Nature, then I too might know,
(Like them who once wild magic bound
Into their rhymes of long-ago),
Such ecstasy of earth around
As never yet held heart before
Or language for its beauty found.

Note: This poem is in the public domain.

About the Poet

Madison Julius Cawein, known as the “Keats of Kentucky” for his Romantic influences, was born on March 23, 1865, in Louisville.

His mother, Christina, a spiritualist and writer, and his father, Dr. William Cawein, an herbalist turned hotelier, instilled in him a love of nature and storytelling.

During a brief stay in New Albany, Indiana, Cawein honed his translation skills in Latin and German. Returning to Louisville in 1879, he attended Louisville Male High School, where his poetry journey began, ultimately leading him to earn a bachelor’s degree in 1886.

Cawein’s first job was as a cashier at a pool hall, a position he held for eight years to support his writing. In 1887, he published Blooms of the Berry, earning critical acclaim from novelist William Dean Howells.

Over his career, Cawein published more than thirty volumes, including Kentucky Poems (1902), praised by English critic Edmund Gosse, and The White Snake and Other Poems (1895), translations from German.

In later years, Cawein faced financial hardships and waning popularity as Modernism emerged. He passed away at forty-nine on December 8, 1914, leaving a legacy commemorated in The Story of a Poet by Otto Arthur Rothert and his grave at Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery.