A welcome of great lilacs at the gate, A purple arch, a dense screen on both sides. Lilacs, lilacs, whom do you await? The house is empty your profusion hides. Young lovers used to pluck you as they passed. Your perfume, sweet as love, May breezes blew. Ah, noble lilacs what romances last In your great height, fragrance and purple hue. You live and bloom when what you loved is gone. You stand your ground and grow when no one cares. I grieve the garden waste you look upon; The burden of the past your perfume bears. The gate now lies unhinged, yet no youth comes With quick drawn breath, on fire to learn his fate. Did dreams come true of love, achievement, homes -- Sweet lilacs blooming by a broken gate? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE JEWISH CEMETERY AT NEWPORT by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LOOKING FORWARD by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON THE COTTON BOLL by HENRY TIMROD IN THE WATER by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS TO THE NIGHTINGALE by PHILIP AYRES |