In Bourgueil's pleasaunce many a lover's hand Wrote many a name in letters big and bold On bark of shady tree; beneath the gold Of Louvre's ceiling, love by smiles was fanned. What matters it? Gone all the maddened band! Four planks of wood their bodies did enfold; None now disputes their love, or longs to hold Their dried-up dust, -- part of the grassy land. All dead. Marie, Helene, Cassandra proud, Your bodies would be nothing in their shroud, Lilies and roses were not made to last. If Ronsard, on the yellow Loire or Seine Had not upon your brows his garlands cast Of myrtle and of laurel not in vain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE QUALITY OF COURAGE by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE CHANGED WOMAN by LOUISE BOGAN NO MATTER WHAT, AFTER ALL, AND THAT BEAUTIFUL WORD SO by HAYDEN CARRUTH TRANSLUCENT FINGERS by MALCOLM COWLEY DRIVING INTO LARAMIE by JAMES GALVIN WHAT I'VE BELIEVED IN by JAMES GALVIN |