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The Lilac Poem

Before the lilacs are over and they are only

shrunken stalks at the ends of drooping branches,

I want to write a poem about them and their beauty

brief and star-shining as a young girl’s promise.

Because there is so much made of strength and wealth and power,

because the little things are lost in this world,

I write this poem about lilacs knowing that both

are this day’s only: tomorrow they will lie forgotten.

-Raymond Souster