The Faded Violet
WHAT thought is folded in thy leaves!
What tender thought, what speechless pain!
I hold thy faded lips to mine,
Thou darling of the April rain!
I hold thy faded lips to mine,
Though scent and azure tint are fled—
O dry, mute lips! ye are the type
Of something in me cold and dead:
Of something wilted like thy leaves;
Of fragrance flown, of beauty dim;
Yet for the love of those white hands
That found thee by a river’s brim—
That found thee when thy dewy mouth
Was purpled as with stains of wine—
For love of her who love forgot,
I hold thy faded lips to mine.
That thou shouldst live when I am dead,
When hate is dead, for me, and wrong,
For this I use my subtlest art,
For this I fold thee in my song.
Thomas Bailey Aldrich.