Sonnet Written in Answer to a Sonnet Ending Thus

Blue ! 'Tis the life of heaven, — the domain
Of Cynthia,— the wide palace of the sun, —
The tent of Hesperus, and all his train, —
The bosomer of clouds, gold, grey and dun.
Blue ! 'Tis the life of waters : — Ocean
And all its vassal streams, pools numberless,
May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can
Subside, if not to dark blue nativeness.
Blue ! Gentle cousin of the forest-green,
Married to green in all the sweetest flowers, —
Forget-me-not,— the Blue bell, — and, that Queen
Of secrecy, the Violet: what strange powers
Hast thou, as a mere shadow! But how great,
When in an Eye thou art, alive with fate!