The Hardy Garden by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Now let forever the phlox and the rose be tended / Here where the rain has darkened and the sun has dried

So many times the terrace, yet is love unended, / Love has not died.

Let here no seed of a season, that the winter / But once assails, take root and for a time endure;

But only such as harbour at the frozen centre / The germ secure.

Set here the phlox and the iris, and establish / Pink and valerian, and the great and lesser bells;

But suffer not the sisters of the year, to publish / That frost prevails.

How far from home in a world of mortal burdens / Is Love, that may not die, and is forever young!

Set roses here: surround her only with such maidens / As speak her tongue.