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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


IF THEY HONOURED ME, GIVING ME THEIR GIFTS by KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY

First Line: THEY BRING ME GIFTS, THEY HONOUR ME
Last Line: IT IS THAT ONCE I STOOD, AS YE, %DUMB IN YOUTH'S GOLDEN CLIME

They bring me gifts, they honour me
Now I am growing old;
And wondering youth crowds round my knee,
As if I had a mystery
And worship to unfold.


To me the tender, blushing bride
Doth come with lips that fail;
I feel her heart beat at my side
And cry: "Like Ares in his pride,


Hail, noble bridegroom, hail!'
And to the doubting boy, afraid
Of too ambitious bliss, I whisper:
"None is like thy maid,


And I her fond heart will persuade
To feel thou feeleśt this."
Or if Persephone should take
From me some maid full dear,


While friends their lamentations make,
I rise, and for the lover's sake
I praise her loud and clear.
Ye bring me gifts, ye honour me


For music and for rhyme;
And if at last my jsings free,
It is that once I Stood, as ye,
Dumb in youth's golden clime.




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