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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHILD AND THE ROSE, by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON Poet's Biography First Line: Said the child to the rose: I would that I Last Line: Dead, with a baby at her breast. Subject(s): Children; Flowers; Night; Roses; Winter; Childhood; Bedtime | |||
SAID the child to the rose: "I would that I Might rest in a pretty garden close, To feel the wind as it brushes by, To play with every flower that grows; It must be sweet in the summer-tide To watch the buds as they open wide," Said the child to the rose. Said the rose to the child: "And I would be, Like you, a creature sweet and mild, Safe-housed from weathers winterly And warmed with love all undefiled; 'Tis cold for sleep when the night is near, And the time till morning goes full drear," Said the rose to the child. They had their will: for the rose one day Was plucked and worn in a ballroom gay, Where the air was stifling hot, -- and so It shrunk and died in the fierce, brief glow. The child, a woman pinched and white, In after years, on a winter's night, Lay in the garden, took her rest, Dead, with a baby at her breast. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BREATH OF NIGHT by RANDALL JARRELL HOODED NIGHT by ROBINSON JEFFERS NIGHT WITHOUT SLEEP by ROBINSON JEFFERS WORKING OUTSIDE AT NIGHT by DENIS JOHNSON POEM TO TAKE BACK THE NIGHT by JUNE JORDAN COOL DARK ODE by DONALD JUSTICE POEM TO BE READ AT 3 A.M by DONALD JUSTICE ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT by BOB KAUFMAN BLACK SHEEP by RICHARD EUGENE BURTON |
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