The Poetry Corner

Serenade

By Madison Julius Cawein

The pink rose drops its petals on The moonlit lawn, the moonlit lawn; The moon, like some wide rose of white, Drops down the summer night. No rose there is As sweet as this Thy mouth, that greets me with a kiss. The lattice of thy casement twines With jasmine vines, with jasmine vines; The stars, like jasmine blossoms, lie About the glimmering sky. No jasmine tress Can so caress As thy white arms' soft loveliness. About thy door magnolia blooms Make sweet the glooms, make sweet the glooms; A moon-magnolia is the dusk Closed in a dewy husk. However much, No bloom gives such Soft fragrance as thy bosom's touch. The flowers, blooming now, shall pass, And strew the grass, and strew the grass; The night, like some frail flower, dawn Shall soon make gray and wan. Still, still above, The flower of True love shall live forever, love.