Stories That Might Be True with Other Poems (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1850. Excerpt: ... THE LAMENT OF THE ROSE. Founded upon a Fable of Herder's, in which the Rose is represented as complaining that, while all flowers around her h af alike fade and wither, she alone has been selected by mankind as the type of fragility and evanescence. "A LL flowers around me fade I see them die I----They wither from the earth, and leave no trace To breathe the sweetness of a day gone by, Or tell of vanished loveliness and grace I "This grass was thick with Vi'lets; at my feet They sighed, with Spring, their gentle souls away: The wind that wandered from the West was sweet, But the bright Summer came, and where were they?. "Upon this mossy bank a sudden shower Falls--with the breeze; the fragile Cystus flings Her snows, the glory of a Summer hour Shook down, and numbered with forgotten things. "Not she alone; the Sunflower, that above Hath constant fixed her broad and lidless eye, Hangs all her golden head, smit through with love, With love that may not hope, and can but die' "But e'en the Valley-Lily, from the sun Enshrouded in her cool, dark, glossy leaf, Hath withered there in silence, like a nun That folds her veil above some hidden grief. "Mourn not, sweet children even I, your Queen, Hath felt a thrill, the presage of decay, Steal through my leaves--the Being, that hath been A dream of blessedness, must pass away I "We have one Destiny, one Lord, the Sun; We feel our souls drawn from us thro' the kiss That woke us first from nothing: one by one We offer up our lives, a death of bliss. "But ye, unthinking race, for whom I strove All beauty, sweetness, into one to blend, To shed around your path the light of love; How have ye dealt with her that was your friend? "Ye look upon me--little doth avail The hue that trembling to my heart-leaf glows; With me ...