Classic Poem

I.

Mossy rose on mossy stone,
Flowering 'mid the ruins lone,
I have learnt, beholding thee,
Youth and Age may well agree.

II.

Baby germ of freshest hue,
Out of ruin issuing new;
Moss a long laborious growth,
And one stalk supporting both:

III.

Thus may still, while fades the past,
Life come forth again as fast;
Happy if the relics sere
Deck a cradle, not a bier.

IV.

Tear the garb, the spirit flies,
And the heart unsheltered, dies;
Kill within the nursling flower,
Scarce the green survives an hour.

V.

Ever thus together live,
And to man a lesson give,
Moss, the work of vanished years,
Rose, that but to-day appears.

VI.

Moss, that covers dateless tombs;
Bud with early sweet that blooms;
Childhood thus, in happy rest,
Lies on ancient Wisdom's breast.

VII.

Moss and Rose, and Age and Youth,
Flush and Verdure, Hope and Truth,
Yours be peace that knows not strife,
One the root and one the life.