Frost-bird can mean an apathetic, frigid man, and flower a beauty or something beautiful like poetry. Frigidity kills poetry accidentally by an editor, an approving god in a publishing house.
Apparently with no surprise 1
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play－
In accidental power－
The blonde Assassin passes on－5
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.
To any happy Flower
The Frost beheads it at its play－
In accidental power－
The blonde Assassin passes on－5
The Sun proceeds unmoved
To measure off another Day
For an Approving God.
(F.1668/J.1624)
[1-2] Apparently, any, Flower:: a hint on some natural thing that happens to flower.
[3] Frost:: a frost-bird, called for its appearance often in the early frost of Autumn.
[4] accidental:: not the frost-bird's intention to damage the flower.
[5] blonde:: golden plover, one of the frost-birds.
[6-7] proceeds unmoved, another Day:: this scene of bird and flower happens every day.
[8] Approving God:: it's part of the nature approved by God; god also means a man of power, alluding here an editor who approves authors.
The notes of the golden plover are less shrill and piping than those of the black-bellied plover; they are less timid, and more easily decoyed. These birds are often taken for the young of the other variety. They are known as "frost-birds" in the neighborhood of New York, from the circumstance of their being more abundant about the time of the early frosts of autumn, when they are also in good condition. ─ The American Sportsman (1868)