Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IMMORTAL JOY, by MARGARET SACKVILLE



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IMMORTAL JOY, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: When all our roses huddle out of sight
Last Line: Shall gently fall upon its sleeping face.
Subject(s): Beauty; Flowers; Happiness; Immortality; Roses; Spring; Joy; Delight


WHEN all our roses huddle out of sight
Ashamed before the Autumn wind, and these
Bright shafts of golden summer and this delight,
Go the same way as other ecstasies;

Go the same way that all men's joys have gone,
Whether in Athens, Egypt, Rome, or Troy,
London or Paris, Carthage, Babylon,—
Then let our tears immortalise our joy!

Not on the dusty heap of outworn years
Cast we the fine husk of this radiant thing,
Not with sour sorrow stain its burial place—

But keep its beauty fresh with fragrant tears
Which, like the dew of some perpetual Spring,
Shall gently fall upon its sleeping face.





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