THY span of life was all too short— <br />A week or two at best— <br />From budding-time, through blossoming, <br />To withering and rest. <br /> <br />Yet compensation hast thou—aye!— <br />For all thy little woes; <br />For was it not thy happy lot <br />To live and die a rose?<br /><br />John Kendrick Bangs<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-a-whithered-rose/
