Explore "Ashes of Roses" by Leigh Gordon Giltner on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Skies glooming overhead, / Autumn winds sighing; / Bare yonder garden bed, / Flowers low lying. / All their rich radiance fled, / All their pale petals shed, / Wan wraiths of Summer sped, / In Autumn's closes; / Crimson and cream and gold / Strewn on earth's bosom cold, / Mingling with umber mold-- / Ashes of roses.
See, in yon waning West / Rich roses blowing / On Heaven's palimpsest / God's message glowing; / Rose hues and amethyst / Drenched in purpureate mist, / Darkness with Day keeps tryst, / Night's curtain closes; / Quenched is the burning gold, / Shadowed the upland wold, / Day's fires grow dull and cold / Ashes of roses.
So on this heart of mine / Shadows are lying; / Lotus and rue entwine, / Dim dreams are dying; / Stilled is the thrill divine, / Spilled is the amber wine, / Dimly the cold stars shine; / Wan age discloses / All youth's bright blossoms dead, / All love's rare radiance sped, / All hope's pure petals shed-- / Ashes of roses.