Petals

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2>Petals</h2> <p>Life is a stream<br/> On which we strew<br/> Petal by petal the flower of our heart;<br/> The end lost in dream,<br/> They float past our view,<br/> We only watch their glad, early start.<br/> <br/> Freighted with hope,<br/> Crimsoned with joy,<br/> We scatter the leaves of our opening rose;<br/> Their widening scope,<br/> Their distant employ,<br/> We never shall know. And the stream as it flows<br/> Sweeps them away,<br/> Each one is gone<br/> Ever beyond into infinite ways.<br/> We alone stay<br/> While years hurry on,<br/> The flower fared forth, though its fragrance still stays.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />