Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO MR. FORBES-ROBERTSON: 10. THE PERFECT LOVE, by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO MR. FORBES-ROBERTSON: 10. THE PERFECT LOVE, by                    
First Line: The love of the young for the old and gray
Last Line: That is the perfect love,—for that we pray.
Subject(s): Compassion; Love; Perfection


The love of the young for the old and gray,
When reverence and honor and all they mean
And deference that's due to age we pay,
Is life's beginning. But there's more, I ween,
Than that sweet love,—the love of old for old.
Ah! that, my friends, bespeaks eternity.
There is no dross, but only purest gold,
'Tis moulded out in perfect symmetry.

No tinkling cymbals make its presence known.
No vaunting boast like sounding brass is there,
But a pure love that has for years been grown
And needs no voice its accents to declare.
For when that love which perfect is shall come,
Then that which is in part shall pass away,
And love of old for old completes life's sum,
That is the perfect love,—for that we pray.





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