Classic Poem

O Rose ! console me now
For heaven doth allow
None else, but only thee
To witness here with me,
And keep to-night love's year long flight —
O Rose! a night of grief.

Thy life is sweet as hers
Who met the messengers
Of death and led them back
Along the brightening track,
For she knew more of heaven's far shore, —
O Rose! knew more than they.

As spotless she as thou!
God — loving — did endow
Her soul with all things pure
That here awhile endure.
But deathly sleep my love doth keep —
O Rose! a sleep of death.

O sweet and spotless Rose
Thy life draws near its close!
Sweet, sweet immaculate maid,
Her life is only stayed;
The day grows bright beyond the night —
O Rose! grows bright with dawn.

Thy beauty fades to dust
With moth-fret, mould and rust.
But hope and memory
Preserve thy sanctity,
And love's own flowers in Eden's bowers
O Rose! are flowers like thee!