I found this one by W E Henley...
O GATHER ME THE ROSE
O gather me the rose, the rose,
While yet in flower we find it,
For summer smiles, but summer goes,
And winter waits behind it.
For with the dream foregone, foregone,
The deed foreborn forever,
The worm Regret will canker on,
And time will turn him never.
While yet in flower we find it,
For summer smiles, but summer goes,
And winter waits behind it.
For with the dream foregone, foregone,
The deed foreborn forever,
The worm Regret will canker on,
And time will turn him never.
So were it well to love, my love,
And cheat of any laughter
The fate beneath us, and above,
The dark before and after.
The myrtle and the rose, the rose,
The sunshine and the swallow,
The dream that comes, the wish that goes
The memories that follow!
- William Ernest Henley
Images: Brian Sibley © 2009 uploaded by flickr.
8 comments:
Oh to have a garden in which such roses grew, and a mind in which such poems grew -- this is lovely. Thank you.
Beautiful!
I too had some beautiful roses in my garden this year... but no (very) able photographer to capture their magic, nor the inspiration even to think of looking for a poem to emphasise them! Well done!
mensl: the frustration felt when presented with a beautiful rose... with no perfume!
Yes, it is gorgeous. And I still haven't tried capturing a flower with my Lumix.
I remember at school, when we sang the hymn below, I used to blush every time we got to the last line of this first verse:
By cool Siloam’s shady rill
How fair the lily grows!
How sweet the breath, beneath the hill,
Of Sharon’s dewy rose!
I've inherited a myrtle and I appreciate its association with the rose in this poem: the scent is gorgeous, although the flowers are unspectacular. Autumn isn't here yet though - it's still flowering. So we'll make the most of it - knowing that it will be back next year.
Hey, my word verification today is hippo: now what should I make of that ...?
Brian -- this comment doesn't need to be posted, I just wanted to ask your permission for me to print out the first rose picture, frame it, and put it on my desk -- it would be the next best thing to having an actual English rose on my desk. (I love roses.)
You might enjoy the post currently on my blog. Check out the detail on the last cake pic linked -- it is unbelievable!!!
SCB - Well, I have to post it to answer! :-) Yes, of course; just follow the Flickr link at the bottom of the post and you'll be able to choose how big a rose you'd like to download!!
Great cakes, by the way!
Beautiful. I have a Chrysler Imperial rosetree, mmmm what a perfume, but I have no roses until perhaps october o november.
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