Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems including a Reprint of Echoes from Theocritus: By Wilfred Austin Gill: With a Critical Estimate of the Sonnets by the late John Addington Symonds |
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LOOKING BACK |
 | Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems |  |
172
LOOKING BACK
We walked in June thro' garden beds
Made bright with every flower that blows,
And high above their dewy heads
A rose, and yet again a rose.
Made bright with every flower that blows,
And high above their dewy heads
A rose, and yet again a rose.
They bent to meet you from the stem,
You touched their petals as we passed;
(No gentler hand could fall on them)
“Sweet things,” you murmured,—“while they last.
You touched their petals as we passed;
(No gentler hand could fall on them)
“Sweet things,” you murmured,—“while they last.
And I on cheerful thoughts intent:
“How well they grace their tiny room!
Without a struggle yielding scent,
Without an effort spreading bloom.
“How well they grace their tiny room!
Without a struggle yielding scent,
Without an effort spreading bloom.
And why should we so toil to please,
When simple truth is all in all?
What can we compass more than these?”
You smiled and said, “But ah, they fall!”
When simple truth is all in all?
What can we compass more than these?”
You smiled and said, “But ah, they fall!”
November glooms are round us now,
I sit within and dream of you—
Your look, your smile, your thoughtful brow,
Your pensive word—alas, 'twas true!
I sit within and dream of you—
Your look, your smile, your thoughtful brow,
Your pensive word—alas, 'twas true!
The fairest thing makes shortest stay,
The sweetest thing the soonest goes;
Shed were the rose's leaves to-day,
And you—you went before the rose!
The sweetest thing the soonest goes;
Shed were the rose's leaves to-day,
And you—you went before the rose!
1884.
| Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems | |