Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/259

Rh Ere he learns to live.

—Ah, friend, in thy deep grave,

What now can change, what now can save?

PART IV

SONGS

"BECAUSE THE ROSE MUST FADE"

the rose must fade,

Shall I not love the rose?

Because the summer shade

Passes when winter blows,

Shall I not rest me there

In the cool air?

Because the sunset sky

Makes music in my soul,

Only to fail and die,

Shall I not take the whole

Of beauty that it gives

While yet it lives?

Because the sweet of youth

Doth vanish all too soon,

Shall I forget, forsooth,

To learn its lingering tune;

My joy to memorize

In those young eyes?

If, like the summer flower

That blooms—a fragrant death,

Keen music hath no power

To live beyond its breath,