Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.
Philip Bourke Marston 185087The Rose and the Wind
The Rose
W
The Wind that kisses me and is so kind?
Lo, how the Lily sleeps! her sleep is light;
Would I were like the Lily, pale and white!
Will the Wind come?
Perchance for you too soon.
If not, how could I live until the noon?
What, think you, Beech-tree, makes the Wind delay?
Why comes he not at breaking of the day?
Hush, child, and, like the Lily, go to sleep.
You know I cannot.
Nay, then, do not weep.
Your lover comes, be happy now, O Rose!
He softly through my bending branches goes.
Soon he shall come, and you shall feel his kiss.
Already my flush’d heart grows faint with bliss;
Love, I have long’d for you through all the night.
And I to kiss your petals warm and bright.
Laugh round me, Love, and kiss me; it is well.
Nay, have no fear, the Lily will not tell.
The Rose
’T was dawn when first you came; and now the sun
Shines brightly and the dews of dawn are done.
’T is well you take me so in your embrace;
But lay me back again into my place,
For I am worn, perhaps with bliss extreme.
Nay, you must wake, Love, from this childish dream.
’T is you, Love, who seem changed; your laugh is loud,
And ’neath your stormy kiss my head is bow’d
O Love, O Wind, a space will you not spare?
Not while your petals are so soft and fair.
My buds are blind with leaves, they cannot see,—
O Love, O Wind, will you not pity me?
The Beech
O Wind, a word with you before you pass;
What did you to the Rose that on the grass
Broken she lies and pale, who lov’d you so?
Roses must live and love, and winds must blow.