POEMS
IN MEMORY OF DOUGLAS VERNON COW
This Poem, Dedicated To His Mother.
To twilight heads comes Death as comes a friend,
As with the gentle fading of the year
Fades rose, folds leaf, falls fruit, and to their end
Unquestioning draw near,
Their flowering over, and their fruiting done,
Fulfilled and finished and going down with the sun.
As with the gentle fading of the year
Fades rose, folds leaf, falls fruit, and to their end
Unquestioning draw near,
Their flowering over, and their fruiting done,
Fulfilled and finished and going down with the sun.
But for June's heart there is no comforting
When her full-throated rose
Still quick with buds, still thrilling to the air,
By some stray wind is tossed,
Her swelling grain that goes
Heavy to harvesting
In a black gale is lost,
And her round grape that purpled to the wine
Is pinched by some chance frost.
Ah, then cry out for that lost, lovely rose,
For the stricken wheat, and for the finished vine!
Such were you who steep now, who have foregone
So many of Life's rich secrets almost learned;
When her full-throated rose
Still quick with buds, still thrilling to the air,
By some stray wind is tossed,
Her swelling grain that goes
Heavy to harvesting
In a black gale is lost,
And her round grape that purpled to the wine
Is pinched by some chance frost.
Ah, then cry out for that lost, lovely rose,
For the stricken wheat, and for the finished vine!
Such were you who steep now, who have foregone
So many of Life's rich secrets almost learned;
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