Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RONDEAU by ANONYMOUS

First Line: A RUINED ROSE - I HOLD IT SO
Last Line: "MY LADY PROUD WILL LIE BELOW,- / A RUINED ROSE"
Subject(s): FLOWERS;ROSES;
A RUINED rose, -- I hold it so,
Up by its broken stem, and lo!
In fibrous heart and shredded sheath
The record of my lady's teeth
Who frayed it thus an hour ago.

I asked too much, it may be, though
She needed not such meed bestow,
Nor to my wounded heart bequeath
A ruined rose.

But time will even all, I know,
And when a few more years shall show
Fair maidens gleaned from hall and heath
To round my beauty's changeful wreath,
My lady proud will lie below, --
A ruined rose.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net