Skip to content
Linespedia

On a Theme in the Greek Anthology

By Alan Seeger

Topics: classic

Thy petals yet are closely curled,      Rose of the world,     Around their scented, golden core;     Nor yet has Summer purpled o'er     Thy tender clusters that begin      To swell within     The dewy vine-leaves' early screen      Of sheltering green.     O hearts that are Love's helpless prey,      While yet you may,     Fly, ere the shaft is on the string!     The fire that now is smouldering     Shall be the conflagration soon      Whose paths are strewn     With torment of blanched lips and eyes      That agonize.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"Thy petals yet are closely curled,..."

"On a Theme in the Greek Anthology" is a quintessential example of Alan Seeger's signature style... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Alan Seeger

"Thy petals yet are closely curled,..." by Alan Seeger

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"I loved illustrious cities and the crowds     That eddy through their incandescent nights.     I loved remote horizons with far clouds     Gird"

"I fancied, while you stood conversing there,     Superb, in every attitude a queen,     Her ermine thus Boadicea bare,     So moved amid the mu"

"I     First, London, for its myriads; for its height,     Manhattan heaped in towering stalagmite;     But Paris for the smoothness of the"

"Oft as by chance, a little while apart     The pall of empty, loveless hours withdrawn,     Sweet Beauty, opening on the impoverished heart,"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Alan Seeger

About Alan Seeger

Alan Seeger (1888–1916) was an American poet who fought in the French Foreign Legion during World War I. His poem "I Have a Rendezvous with Death" is one of the most famous war poems, and he was killed in action at the Battle of the Somme.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"I loved illustrious cities and the crowds     That..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.