Poetry Archives

There was a rose that faded young;
I saw its shattered beauty hung
  Upon a broken stem.
I heard them say, “What need to care
With roses budding everywhere?”
  I did not answer them.

There was a bird, brought down to die;
They said, “A hundred fill the sky—
  What reason to be sad?”
There was a girl, whose lover fled;
I did not wait, the while they said,
  “There’s many another lad.”