Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Robert Seymour Bridges 1844–1930

Poor Withered Rose

BridgesR

POOR wither’d rose and dry,

Skeleton of a rose,

Risen to testify

To love’s sad close:

Treasur’d for love’s sweet sake,

That of joy past

Thou mightst again awake

Memory at last.

Yet is thy perfume sweet;

Thy petals red

Yet tell of summer heat,

And the gay bed:

Yet, yet recall the glow

Of the gazing sun,

When at thy bush we two

Join’d hands in one.

But, rose, thou hast not seen,

Thou hast not wept,

The change that pass’d between

Whilst thou hast slept.

To me thou seemest yet

The dead dream’s thrall;

While I live and forget

Dream, truth, and all.

Thou art more fresh than I,

Rose, sweet and red:

Salt on my pale cheeks lie

The tears I shed.