the meanings of the lily and the rose

the garden’s keeper is the one who knows

the time of fruiting and the ways of light

the meanings of the lily and the rose

to all who pause to watch as each plant grows

in its true place as firm hands set it right

the garden's keeper is the one who knows

when to stay calm and just when to disclose

the secret word that guards from every blight

the meanings of the lily and the rose

that in their beds do far more than repose

for the pure delectation of our sight

the garden's keeper is the one who knows

the proper manner of setting the rows

to mimic motion and to arrest flight

the meanings of the lily and the rose

are not in words still less in strikes and blows

against the passage that leads into night

the garden's keeper is the one who knows

the meanings of the lily and the rose

a keener form of light

it is so easy to drift down to sleep

when the weak body lacking all defence

is at a moment when matters are tense

just eager to collapse into the deep

comfort of the dark hardest thoughts will keep

until winter sun makes some vague pretense

at warming earth but we have little sense

of whether honest hearts may make the leap

into the morning now we have some hope

that better judgment will be after night

and waking eyes will look on clearer choice

that at the least each will know how to cope

in what will be a keener form of light

and in a place where each will have a voice

at one beach

so we are clear that in the winter sun

beneath the cloudless sky when all is cold

though all is bright our hearts are not consoled

by any knowledge the good times are done

while an uncertain epoch has begun

when the best folk are not doomed to be old

when crab his kingdom has now been foretold

so that the countdown clock is on its run

we seldom grieve the brightness of the day

until we see the stars in the night sky

and then declare the sunlight was too brief

for all we had to do or had to say

yet know the while that our words are a lie

to cover up a monumental grief