Tear the pink rose petal by petal And let the petals float and fall, Ravel the golden stamens out, And, last of all, Shredding its sweetness on the wind, Turn and laugh and go away, Forgetting how soft a thing it was, How brief a thing to stay. But when white winds have swept your heart, And white tides driven along your veins, And the continents are yellow with leaves And the mountains black with rains, Secretly in your depths of sleep Among the unresting rocks and roots A dream, a gleam, a warmth will start, A whirl of winds and lutes, -- And thrusting among the withered leaves Will burn the purple-pointed flame, And the rose you slew will light again, Will light again the same. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNTITLED, 1968; FOR MARK ROTHKO by JAMES GALVIN THE FLAME LIGHTS UP by DAVID IGNATOW A MID-DAY DREAMER by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON GHOSTS OF THE OLD YEAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE BLACK MONKEY by KATHERINE MANSFIELD TO HELEN KELLER - HUMANITARIAN, SOCIAL DEMOCRAT, GREAT SOUL by EDWIN MARKHAM |