The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti A variorum edition: Edited, with textual notes and introductions, by R. W. Crump |
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AUTUMN VIOLETS. |
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 | The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti |  |
AUTUMN VIOLETS.
Keep love for youth, and violets for the spring:Or if these bloom when worn-out autumn grieves,
Let them lie hid in double shade of leaves,
Their own, and others dropped down withering;
For violets suit when home birds build and sing,
Not when the outbound bird a passage cleaves;
Not with dry stubble of mown harvest sheaves,
But when the green world buds to blossoming.
Keep violets for the spring, and love for youth,
Love that should dwell with beauty, mirth, and hope:
Or if a later sadder love be born,
195
But give itself, nor plead for answering truth—
A grateful Ruth tho' gleaning scanty corn.
| The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti | |