Page:Roses in Rain, by Lilian Wooster Greaves, 1910.pdf/23

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 * these be lowly laid?

Must perish too the creatures bright that
 * rested in their shade?
 * Must there be always loss?
 * And beauty be but dross?
 * Must Nature pay the price
 * In one burnt sacrifice?
 * Must all her daughters die, her sons be

slain
 * Before her land can bring forth golden

grain ?

{{c|III.}}

Even so, from many a heart of flesh the
 * idols must be cast,

And overthrown the shrines whereat we
 * worshipped in the past.

Destroyed must be our leafy groves by fierce
 * affliction’s blast;

And deep must sorrow’s ploughshare cleave
 * the ash-strewn soil at last.
 * And when earth’s joys are flown
 * The precious'seed is sown;
 * And so the stricken field
 * Her hundred-fold doth yield;