I said: This is a beautiful fresh rose. <br />I said: I will delight me with its scent, <br />Will watch its lovely curve of languishment, <br />Will watch its leaves unclose, its heart unclose. <br />I said: Old earth has put away her snows, <br />All living things make merry to their bent, <br />A flower is come for every flower that went. <br />In autumn, the sun glows, the south wind blows, <br />So walking in a garden of delight <br />I came upon one sheltered shadowed nook <br />Where broad leaf-shadows veiled the day with night <br />And there lay snow unmelted by the sun: - <br />I answered: Take who will the path I took, <br />Winter nips once for all; love is but one.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/once-for-all/
