| Harriet Monroe, ed. (18601936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 191222. | | | | To a Friend | | By Minor Watson |
| | | AS a child parts the petals of a rose, | |
| Seeking perplexed, within the perfumed core, | |
| A tangible sweetnessso my thoughts explore | |
| This twilit hour, through many a fragrant close, | |
| Our interfolded years. Proud Memory shows | 5 |
| Old visions of far days, bright in her store | |
| Beside the light last speech we loitered oer; | |
| So thornless-fair our Rose of Friendship blows. | |
| But whence the subtle sweetness which makes rare | |
| Slight, common joys, so they be shared by you; | 10 |
| Or why, that distant hour, each spirit chose | |
| Instant the other? Sense may not lay bare | |
| The mystery of love I thus pursue | |
| As a child parts the petals of a rose. | | | | |
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