Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DOWNCAST, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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First Line: These roses are as perfect as of old
Last Line: The very fountain of delight is dry.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Grief; Sorrow; Sadness


THESE roses are as perfect as of old,
Those lilies wear their selfsame sunny white;
I, only I, am changed and sad and cold.
The morning star still glorifies the night,
And musical that fountain in its swell
Casts as of old its waters to the light.
Oh that I were a rose, so I might dwell
Contented in a garden on my thorn,
Fulfilling mine appointed fragrance well;
Or stainless lily in the summer morn --
Though no man pluck it, yet the honey-bee
Knows it for sweetness in its bosom born.
Or that I were a star, from sea to sea
Guiding the seekers to their port of rest,
Guiding them till night's shuffling shadows flee;
Or that I were a spring to which, opprest
With desert drought, some wearied wayfarer
Comes from the barren regions of the West.
Then should I stand at peace, and should not err,
Or lighten and make beautiful the sky,
Or make more glad than frank-incense and myrrh.
But now it is not so: I, only I,
Am changed and sad and cold, while in my soul
The very fountain of delight is dry.





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