University of Virginia Library

THE PLUCKED ROSE.

I plucked a rose that in its glory grew,
Within the shadow of a cottage door,
The only riches of the inmates poor,
Bathed in the beauty of its summer dew;
It was unsheltered from the storms that blew,
And would surrender soon to some rude boor
Its graces, did I not those charms renew,
In golden courts and on a marble floor.

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But lo! when it was in my eager grip,
The virgin bloom I deemed would ever last,
Seemed as if blighted by a winter blast;
It was no longer honey to the lip,
That could its sweetness any moment sip,
The freshness faded and the splendour past.