'I play for Seasons; not Eternities!' Says Nature, laughing on her way. 'So must All those whose stake is nothing more than dust!' And lo, she wins, and of her harmonies She is full sure! Upon her dying rose She drops a look of fondness, and goes by, Scarce any retrospection in her eye; For she the laws of growth most deeply knows, Whose hands bear, here, a seed-bag -- there, an urn. Pledged she herself to aught, 'twould mark her end! This lesson of our only visible friend Can we not teach our foolish hearts to learn? Yes! yes! -- but, oh, our human rose is fair Surpassingly! Lose calmly Love's great bliss, When the renewed for ever of a kiss Whirls life within the shower of loosened hair! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FANCY IN NUBIBUS; OR, THE POET IN THE CLOUDS by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE A HYMN TO CHRIST, AT THE AUTHOR'S LAST GOING INTO GERMANY by JOHN DONNE W'EN I GITS HOME by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR CALYPSO WATCHING THE OCEAN by LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON A CALIFORNIA CHRISTMAS by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER TO A CERTAIN CIVILIAN by WALT WHITMAN THE DOUBLE-HEADED SNAKE OF NEWBURY by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |