Poems (Katharine Elizabeth Howard)/Into the green vase of my youth
D. TO B.
Into the green vase of my youth
One summer day you thrust a rose,
And with the rose some seeds of truth.
Now from my vase the rose tree grows
In burnished green with spheres of gold,—
And thorns are hidden here and there
For that free lance who cries "Behold!"
The careless one who robs the fair,
Who needs much pricking to beware.
And now so tall my strong tree grows
Alike in fragrance and in truth,
Because—because you thrust a rose
Into the green vase of my youth.
One summer day you thrust a rose,
And with the rose some seeds of truth.
Now from my vase the rose tree grows
In burnished green with spheres of gold,—
And thorns are hidden here and there
For that free lance who cries "Behold!"
The careless one who robs the fair,
Who needs much pricking to beware.
And now so tall my strong tree grows
Alike in fragrance and in truth,
Because—because you thrust a rose
Into the green vase of my youth.