How many million Aprils came
         Before I ever knew
How white a cherry bough could be,
         A bed of squills, how blue.

And many a dancing April
         When life is done with me,
Will lift the blue flame of the flower
         And the white flame of the tree.

Oh, burn me with your beauty, then,
         Oh, hurt me, tree and flower,
Lest in the end death try to take
         Even this glistening hour.

O shaken flowers, O shimmering trees,
         O sunlit white and blue,
Wound me, that I through endless sleep

ne /niː/, adv. and conj.[entry#1] Now only arch. Also 1 ni, 4-5 ny.

Etymology: OE. ne, ni = OFris. and OS. ne, ni (MDutch ne), OHG. ni (ne), ONor. né (for ne), Goth. ni = Lith. nè, OSl. ne-, L. ne- (in nefās, nequeo, etc.), Skr. na, related by ablaut to Goth. nē, Lat. nē, Gr. νη-, Skr. nā.


A adv. = not. 1 As simple negative.

C. 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) N 199 - Numquid, ne huru is.
C. 825 Vesp. Psalter iii. 7 - Ne ondredu ic ðusend folces ymsellendes me.
A. 900 Leiden Riddle 3 in O.E. Texts 150 - Ni uuat ic mec biuorth[n]æ wullan fliusum.

APENECK SWEENEY spreads his knees
Letting his arms hang down to laugh,
The zebra stripes along his jaw
Swelling to maculate giraffe.