Transcription of the Poem
White Roses
They were gathered for a bridal!
I knew it by their hue;
Fair as the summer moonlight
Upon the sleeping dew[.]
From their fair and fairy sisters
They were borne without a sigh
For one remembered evening
To blossom and to die.
They were gather’d for a bridal!
And fastened in a wreath;
But purer were the roses
Than the heart that lay beneath;
Yet the beaming eye was lovely
And the coral lip was fair[.]
And the gazer looked and asked not
For the secret hidden there.
They were gather’d for a bridal!
Where a thousand torches glistened
When the holy words were spoken,
And the false and faithless listened
And answered to the vow
Which another heart had [T]aken,
Yet [s]he was present there—
The once loved—the forsaken.
They were gather’d for a bridal!
And now, now they are dying.
The young Love at the altar
Of broken faith is sighing.
Their summer life was stainless
And not like hers who wore them;
They are faded, and the farewell
Of beauty lingers o’er them.
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