Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS (WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT), by MRS. SWIFT First Line: Oh, glorious flower! Last Line: Like them, sweet flower, I shall have pass'd away! Alternate Author Name(s): Lorrain, Miss Subject(s): Cactus | ||||||||
Oh, glorious flower! As thus at midnight hour With eager gaze I watch thy full revealing, The spirit of the past Is o'er my senses cast, In the rich incense from thy petals stealing. Flower of a century, The dead have gazed on thee; Hast thou no message from the olden time? Where are the living eyes, That look'd in glad surprise, When last thy blossoms open'd in their prime? I see a multitude, The gentle and the rude, The gay, the sad, the young, the weary-hearted, They stand before me now, Each with an upturned brow, O tell me, when, and where, have they departed? Thou answerest with death! E'en as I speak, his breath Is bowing thy bright head with swift decay; And when again ye bloom, A tenant of the tomb Like them, sweet flower, I shall have pass'd away! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS by ROBERT EARL HAYDEN NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS by MARY DILLINGHAM FREAR TO THE SAGUARO CACTUS TREE IN THE DESERT RAIN by JAMES WRIGHT THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS by HARRIET MONROE NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS by HILDEGARD OTT RUSSELL TO THE CACTUS SPECIOSISSIMUS by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS by WALKER WINSLOW |
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