Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ABISHAG, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ABISHAG, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O little tender rose of bethlehem
Last Line: The mirrored portrait of myself seems young.
Subject(s): Abishag (bible); Women In The Bible


O LITTLE tender rose of Bethlehem,
Lo! I am harsher than the salt sea-shore,
And purblind, like some beggar of the plain,
With knotted hair, and beard that hath not known
The comb's caress for wandering wasted years.

I know thy fingers are too fresh and cool
To lie within my gnarled and leathern hands;
I know thy kiss drops on my mouth like dew
On dust, or like those petals of the peach
Starring the ruined road to Olivet.

But I have left the pilgrims in the path
To wrangle round their creeds with shaken staves,
And I have left the thought that I am old,
For, gazing in the pools of thy dark eyes,
The mirrored portrait of myself seems young.





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