<h2><SPAN name="chap18"></SPAN>BURNT ARE THE PETALS OF LIFE</h2>
<p class="poem">
Burnt are the petals of life as a rose fallen and crumbled to dust.<br/>
Blackened the heart of the past is, ashes that must<br/>
Forever be sifted, more precious than sunbeams that<br/>
open the budding to-morrow.<br/>
Once was a passion completed,-too perfect, the<br/>
Gods have not broken to borrow—<br/>
Blackened the heart of the past is, ashes that must<br/>
Forever be sifted. O, loving to-morrow<br/>
The rose of the past is, Life-Eternity’s dust.<br/></p>
<p class="left">
ELSIE PUMPELLY CABOT</p>
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