Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TO THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS (WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT), by MRS. SWIFT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS (WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT), by                    
First Line: Oh, glorious flower!
Last Line: Like them, sweet flower, I shall have pass'd away!
Alternate Author Name(s): Lorrain, Miss
Subject(s): Cactus


Oh, glorious flower!
As thus at midnight hour
With eager gaze I watch thy full revealing,
The spirit of the past
Is o'er my senses cast,
In the rich incense from thy petals stealing.

Flower of a century,
The dead have gazed on thee;
Hast thou no message from the olden time?
Where are the living eyes,
That look'd in glad surprise,
When last thy blossoms open'd in their prime?

I see a multitude,
The gentle and the rude,
The gay, the sad, the young, the weary-hearted,
They stand before me now,
Each with an upturned brow,
O tell me, when, and where, have they departed?

Thou answerest with death!
E'en as I speak, his breath
Is bowing thy bright head with swift decay;
And when again ye bloom,
A tenant of the tomb
Like them, sweet flower, I shall have pass'd away!





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