Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COLD AND QUIET, by JEAN INGELOW


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COLD AND QUIET, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Cold, my dear, -- cold and quiet
Last Line: Love, now the children slumber, I come out to thee.
Subject(s): Cold; Death; Flowers; Gardens & Gardening; Lilies; Love; Silence; Dead, The


COLD, my dear, -- cold and quiet.
In their cups on yonder lea,
Cowslips fold the brown bee's diet;
So the moss enfoldeth thee.
'Plant me, plant me, O love, a lily flower --
Plant at my head, I pray you, a green tree;
And when our children sleep,' she sighed, 'at the dusk hour,
And when the lily blossoms, O come out to me!'

Lost, my dear? Lost! nay, deepest
Love is that which loseth least;
Through the night-time while thou sleepest,
Still I watch the shrouded east.
Near thee, near thee, my wife that aye liveth,
'Lost' is no word for such a love as mine;
Love from her past to me a present giveth,
And love itself doth comfort, making pain divine

Rest, my dear, rest. Fair showeth
That which was, and not in vain:
Sacred have I kept, God knoweth,
Love's last words atween us twain.
'Hold by our past, my only love, my love;
Fall not, but rise, O love, by loss of me!'
Boughs from our garden, white with bloom hang over.
Love, now the children slumber, I come out to thee.





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