Living
Thorn and Rose
From The Poems of Henry van Dyke (1925)
Living
Far richer than a thornless rose
Whose branch with beauty never glows,
Is that which every June adorns
With perfect bloom among its thorns.
Merely to live without a pain
Is little gladness, little gain,
Ah, welcome joy tho' mixt with grief,--
The thorn-set flower that crowns the leaf.
✦ ✦ ✦
Codex Note
From "Epigrams, Greetings, and Inscriptions". Dated June 20, 1914 in the source.
Cite this poem
MLA
Dyke, Henry van. “Thorn and Rose.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/vandyke/115/.
Chicago
Dyke, Henry van. “Thorn and Rose.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/vandyke/115/.
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