Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LILIES: 20. 'SOME DAY I WILL TELL YOU' by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913)

First Line: YES; TELL ME ALL. FOR EVERY THOUGHT OF THINE
Last Line: TAKE THOU MY ROSES; GIVE THY THORNS TO ME.

Yes; tell me all. For every thought of thine
Is unto me a flower I long to hold,
And thy past life is as a cup of gold
Brimming for me with sparkling joyous wine.
Yes; tell me what thy sorrows were of old!
Press deep thy thorn-crown! Make its red points mine!
Wear thou my bays and buds of eglantine,
And round my brows thine austere garland fold.

For then it shall be well with us. I wear
This wreath whose lingering blood-drops soil thine hair,
Whose raven-black, unsoiled, I love to see:
Thou takest flowers that thou dost need the more
Because their gracious bloom came not before:
Take thou my roses; give thy thorns to me.



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