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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THRENODY by ROBERT CAMERON ROGERS

First Line: IN OLIVE LEAVES A LYRE HUNG
Last Line: AND LO! 'TIS ONLY WIND THAT GRIEVES.
Subject(s): LEAVES; NATURE; ORCHARDS;

IN olive leaves a lyre hung
Where whispered winds in every dawn,
And gently with the winds it swung,
And sang of sun-splashed fragrant things.

A few untroubled dawns, and then
The strings lay sodden in the grass.
For all time lost to those few men
That, passing by, had heard its songs.

But still to dawns the lyre sings,
Half hidden in the olive leaves,
Of some transplanted tree that springs,
From orchard-sod by Acheron.

And still, sad little winds come soft
From vigils o'er the fields of Dis,
To murmur those dead songs that oft
By dear familiar ways were sung.

This passing light strikes through the leaves
On those that flutter from the years,
And lo! 'tis only wind that grieves.



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