"The Petaled Thorn"


The Petaled Thorn

Sin is a crimson rose 
Petaled upon a thorn, 
Whose beauty fairest glows 
In its first morn. 

But soon (dost know how soon?) 
Its petals fall apart; 
And comes the high, hot noon 
To scorch its heart. 

The bloom dies in a day; 
Yet petals, fair at morn, 
Leave as they fall away, 
One deathless thorn. 



"The Petaled Thorn" as it appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898).


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