 | The Poems of A. C. Benson |  |
245
ONE BY ONE
One by one, as evening closes,
Droop the flowers that drank the sun;
See, they sleep, my weary roses,
One by one:
Droop the flowers that drank the sun;
See, they sleep, my weary roses,
One by one:
Never did I bend above you,
O my flowers, while all was bright;
There is time, I said, to love you
Ere the night.
O my flowers, while all was bright;
There is time, I said, to love you
Ere the night.
You were neither watched nor tended,
Fevered thoughts were mine instead,
Now the weary day is ended;—
You are dead.
Fevered thoughts were mine instead,
Now the weary day is ended;—
You are dead.
Now I come in dumb disorder,
Seek and search, in wild regret,
If one rose in bed or border
Wakens yet.
Seek and search, in wild regret,
If one rose in bed or border
Wakens yet.
Nay, they slumber till the morrow!
Hasten homewards: bar the gate.
Through the cold dark hours of sorrow
I will wait.
Hasten homewards: bar the gate.
Through the cold dark hours of sorrow
I will wait.
| The Poems of A. C. Benson | |