Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AWAKENING, by KATE HASSELL REYNOLDS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AWAKENING, by                    
First Line: The vase is broken and it lies in bits
Last Line: Of candles burning in a darkened room.
Subject(s): Pottery And Potters


The vase is broken and it lies in bits --
A shattered dream of beauty at my feet;
The Potter's careful work -- the glazier's task
All gone for naught. About the room there flits
Pale dust from crumbling petals of a rose
That blossom'd in its clasp. Not hers to ask
The why of living or if death be sweet --
Hers but to blossom for a day and leave
A fragrance clinging round a broken vase --
This, ev'n tragedy cannot erase;
An echo yet for some lost happiness --
A golden mem'ry for the soul's reprieve.

O dream, that one man formed from senseless clay!
Beauty lives on forever, and its loveliness
Recks not the blossom space of one short day.
Up from the ruins rises sweet perfume --
Sweeter than flowers in their radiant bloom --
More poignant than the last, long bitterness
Of candles burning in a darkened room.





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