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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNET by CHARLES LOUIS HENRY WAGNER

First Line: I GATHERED BLUSHING ROSES KISSED BY JUNE
Last Line: THE PURE CHILD FRAGRANCE IN THY SOUL COMPLETE.
Subject(s): FLOWERS; MEMORY; ROSES; TIME;

I gathered blushing roses kissed by June,
I pressed their tender petals to my heart,
And then, as children do, I tore apart
Their scented loveliness; (my life's at noon)
And though the leaves were by soft winds bestrewn
I took the perfumed sweetness to the mart
In jars that Memory fashioned by her art
So I might keep the spirit of the June.
How like, Virginia, are thy roses now
To Spring-time's crowning glories, fresh and sweet?
Yet Time will rend thy blooms, and years, somehow
Bear off the rapturous red of youth's conceit,
But Memory lives and holds for me I trow,
The pure child fragrance in thy soul complete.



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