Explore "La Jeunesse Et La Mort" by Madison Cawein on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
I. Unto her fragrant face and hair, -- / As some wild bee unto a rose, / That blooms in splendid beauty there / Within the South, -- my longing goes: / My longing, that is over fain / To call her mine, but all in vain; / Since jealous Death, as each one knows, / Is guardian of La belle Helene; / Of her whose face is very fair -- / To my despair, / Sweet belle Helene.
II. The sweetness of her face suggests / The sensuous scented Jacqueminots; / Magnolia blooms her throat and breasts; / Her hands long lilies in repose: / Fair flowers all without a stain, / That grow for Death to pluck again, / Within that garden's radiant close, / The body of La belle Helene; / The garden glad that she suggests, -- / That Death invests. / Sweet belle Helene.