Poem by Henry Timrod

The Rosebuds

Yes, in that dainty ivory shrine,
With those three pallid buds, I twine
And fold away a dream divine!

One night they lay upon a breast
Where Love hath made his fragrant nest,
And throned me as a life-long guest.

Near that chaste heart they seemed to me
Types of far fairer flowers to be—
The rosebuds of a human tree!

Buds that shall bloom beside my hearth,
And there be held of richer worth
Than all the kingliest gems of earth.

Ah me! the pathos of the thought!
I had not deemed she wanted aught;
Yet what a tenderer charm it wrought!

I know not if she marked the flame
That lit my cheek, but not from shame,
When one sweet image dimly came.

There was a murmur soft and low;
White folds of cambric, parted slow;
And little fingers played with snow!

How far my fancy dared to stray,
A lover's reverence needs not say—
Enough—the vision passed away!

Passed in a mist of happy tears,
While something in my trancèd ears
Hummed like the future in a seer's!

1. Sonnets. 4. They Dub Thee Idler, Smiling Sneeringly
2. Sonnets. 12. What Gossamer Lures Thee Now? What Hope, What Name
3. Sonnets. 6. I Scarcely Grieve, O Nature! at the Lot
4. Sonnets. 14. Are These Wild Thoughts, Thus Fettered in My Rhymes
5. A Common Thought

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