The Faded Rose

There was a rose of nature's choicest growth.
Meet for the night-bird's home or fairy bower ;
The breeze would sigh around it as 'twere loth
To bear the perfume from so sweet a flower.
The dew of evening loved it, and the ray
Of fading moonbeams sought its latest smile.
Ye would have deem'd that it could not decay,
So loved, so sweetly nurtured, but the guile
Of autumn night-winds stole its bloom away :
It died, and morning found a dewy gem
Hung as in mockery on the withered stem !
And there was one, a lonely, lovely one,
Who faded like that flower ; the blast of grief
(Though sigh nor 'plaining word was heard by none),
Of very bitterness that mocked relief,
Breathed on her beauty's flower, and leaf by leaf
It fell to nothingness. Some thought she strove
With that unslumbering serpent, blighted love.