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A SONNET IN LIEU OF TEARS In Memoriam I give this rose to you, my brother, For bitter tears that would not sooner pour; Now kindly Time has bound the weeping sore, And twenty years have quelled the stabbing spur. I place this flower on your grassy bed In painful memory of your precious name: No washing rains will quench its love-lit flame, Nor wearing ages see its colors fled. I give this rose in lieu of righter tears Whose salty flood still swells my banded heart; My grieving soul cannot, yet, its torment tell, Though anguish eases with sweep of years, And so, dear brother, I speak my grief in art: Ave atque vale, frater-- brother, farewell. |
