Donald Jeffrey Hayes, "Threnody to Alice" (1927)
Go trace the brilliance
Of a shooting star
Across the sky
And learn O timid Soul
That happiness is but a shooting star
That glows in tempting beauty but to die. . . .
Go find a lonely rose beyond the hill
Hid in the twilight while the world is still
And take that tender blossom
Within your cupped hand
And shed your burning tears of anguish there
Upon the rose .... for roses understand. . .
Go sing your soft lament
Unto the night
And let the darkness kiss your fevered lips
And wrap you 'round with one prolonged embrace
And whisper to your love
To be at peace. . . .
Go seek the story of a nightingale
Go seek the council of a lonely loon
And learn of them
That from this world you are apart
A minor grace-note
To a major tune. . . .
Published in Carolina Magazine, May 1927