Ella Dietz, actress and poet, a childhood friend of the James brothers (Henry and Williams) and the de Kays,
and particularly Minny and Helena http://helenadekaygilder.org/childhood/index.htm
I was working on my copy of the NYC Library copy of the Gilders Journal comparing it to the transcript I got from the Lilly Library and discovered I had a copy of a poem to Helena that wasn't in the transcript.
Ella wrote it:
To Helena,
Like a sad flower, is she, a sad bright flower,
That bloomed alone, but with its flame like face,
Marked light- the gloom, about some trees dark place,
Where the dank leaves wind- streams- no lady's bower,
Nor spot to tempt a traveler for an hour,
So perfect but yet so filled with subtle grace
That the shy snake learned there his lizard race,
And the wild bird falls victim to his flower,
Why wouldn't thou leave the wilderness to go
And paint beside the sunny garden wall
Where blooms the Marigolds and Lilies white,
In the day's heat a hundred roses blow,
Why bask thy beauty there amidst them all,
Roses who were made for solitude and night.
-Ella Dietz
She published three or four books of poetry, helped found the Women's Club Assoc of America and apparently tried to get a divorce (unsuccessfully) from her first husband. There were letters to William James from Minnie talking about her. Have to go dig some more.
Not sure I understand the poem completely. Think I got it right, it's transcribed from a copy of a handwritten sheet in a microfilm roll.
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