Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BROKEN OFF, by MARCUS S. C. RICKARDS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BROKEN OFF, by                    
First Line: In the spring-time of youth didst thou bless me
Last Line: I leave thee for death.
Subject(s): Beauty; Death; Pride; Time; Youth; Dead, The; Self-esteem; Self-respect


IN the spring-time of youth didst thou bless me,
Ere blossomed thy genius and fame;
Fair was I, nor thou loath to confess me
An heiress of pride in thy name.
The doom of the leaves first surrounding
A tree, is to wither the first;
My bloom almost spent, Time is sounding
A death knell accurst.

Long trembles the leaf that is fading,
Long clings to the source of its strength;
A fate have I long been evading,
The breeze that will part us at length.
Mine only the fainting, the grief,
Thy beauty, thy joy, will remain;
The tree -- does it miss one pale leaf?
My loss is thy gain.

A host green and radiant will throng thee,
To drink in delight from thy wealth;
For me so to linger would wrong thee,
Nor lend me new vigour and health.
Elate as of yore wilt thou flourish
In dreamy commune with the sky,
A-tremble, lest aught that can nourish
Should fail of supply.

While I, losing hold of thy glory,
From Heaven to dark earth shall descend,
Falling down, down and down, till my story
Unblest by thy nurture shall end.
So spiritless now, that I shiver
At even a zephyr's light breath;
The night-gale is sighing -- I quiver,
I leave thee for death.





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