The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
41
XXXV. THE LAST SACRIFICE
I have given you love and labour without measure,
And many fruits and flowers from out my hands,
And robbed imagination's dainty lands,
If so I might, with a gold touch of pleasure,
Be as a sunbeam brightening your leisure,
And you might wind your hair in statelier bands:
And you have given me—a few stray sands—
To cherish, and to ponder on, and treasure.
And many fruits and flowers from out my hands,
And robbed imagination's dainty lands,
If so I might, with a gold touch of pleasure,
Be as a sunbeam brightening your leisure,
And you might wind your hair in statelier bands:
And you have given me—a few stray sands—
To cherish, and to ponder on, and treasure.
These things I have given you—life, and toil, and trouble,
And laurels, and the whisper of a name,
And many a blood-red sacrifice of flame,
And daily aspiration of pure breath;
I can but give you now my lungs' last bubble,—
There is only left the sacrifice of death.
And laurels, and the whisper of a name,
And many a blood-red sacrifice of flame,
And daily aspiration of pure breath;
I can but give you now my lungs' last bubble,—
There is only left the sacrifice of death.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |