Benjamin Rosenbaum

From “Songs of Youth”

HE said he knew nothing of love;

And asked the flower to tell him

What it meant.

The flower turned its face upward,

And sunbeams came to kiss it

While it held the bee in its embrace.

He shook his head—“I do not understand.”

He called upon the bird for love;

And the bird began to sing so sweetly,

That one could but listen.

A mate was soon returning the serenade;

And then, they met and were off together.

His face was perplexed.

The snow, he thought, might know

What love truly was;

But his fleecy friends were seeking peace

On earth’s warm breast.

He moved slowly on.

I tried to tell him what he sought:

Two parts of a soul, that were cut

By the shears of God,

Unite—this is called love.

He was solemn.

One night he passed away,

And I saw him in a dream.

“I am in love with Death,”

He said.

I did not understand.