I NEVER gave a lock of hair away To a man, Dearest, except this to thee, Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully, I ring out to the full brown length and say 'Take it.' My day of youth went yesterday; My hair no longer bounds to my foot's glee, Nor plant I it from rose or myrtle-tree, As girls do, any more: it only may Now shade on two pale cheeks the mark of tears, Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside Through sorrow's trick. I thought the funeral-shears Would take this first, but Love is justified, -- Take it thou, -- finding pure, from all those years, The kiss my mother left here when she died. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...YOU ON THE TOWER by THOMAS HARDY SONNET: 17. TO SIR HENRY VANE THE YOUNGER by JOHN MILTON THE FIRST AMERICAN CONGRESS by JOEL BARLOW BEES IN CLOVER; A SONG by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON NIMROD: 4 by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH EPITAPH FOR GAVIN HAMILTON by ROBERT BURNS |