SHALL that bright flower the countless ages toiled And travailed to bring forth -- shall that rare rose, Whose bloom and fragrance earth and heaven unclose Their treasuries to enrich, by death be foiled? Its matchless splendor trampled down and spoiled? Shall that Celestial Love -- who watched its throes Through centuries of long struggles and of woes, And freed it from the old Serpent round it coiled; Who tended it, and reared its glorious head Above the brambles and the poisonous marsh, And shielded it when zones were cased in ice -- Leave it to perish when the summons harsh Of death is rung, -- or, ere its leaves are shed, Transplant it to his realm of Paradise? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BUCOLIC COMEDY: FLEECING TIME by EDITH SITWELL FAREWELL TO FARGO: SELLING THE HOUSE by KAREN SWENSON THE BEST [THING IN THE WORLD] by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE BLUE AND THE GRAY by FRANCIS MILES FINCH WINTER: MY SECRET by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI |