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Original Document
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Original Document
H. D. [Hilda Doolittle], "Sea Rose" Sea Garden, 1916.

Rose, harsh rose
    marred and with stint of petals,
    meagre flower, thin,
    sparse of leaf,
 
    more precious
    than a wet rose
    single on a stem --
    you are caught in the drift.
 
    Stunted, with small leaf,
    you are flung on the sand,
    you are lifted
    in the crisp sand
    that drives in the wind.
 
    Can the spice-rose
    drip such acrid fragrance
    hardened in a leaf?

Credit: H.D. Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University and New Directions Publishing
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