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DAWN
The Rose
WHEN, think you, comes the Wind, | |
| 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? | 5 |
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The Beech
Perchance for you too soon. | |
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The Rose
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? | |
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The Beech
Hush, child, and, like the Lily, go to sleep. | 10 |
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The Rose
You know I cannot. | |
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The Beech
Nay, then, do not weep. | |
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(After a pause)
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. | 15 |
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The Rose
Already my flush’d heart grows faint with bliss; | |
| Love, I have long’d for you through all the night. | |
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The Wind
And I to kiss your petals warm and bright. | |
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The Rose
Laugh round me, Love, and kiss me; it is well. | |
| Nay, have no fear, the Lily will not tell. | 20 |
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MORNING
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. | 25 |
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The Wind
Nay, you must wake, Love, from this childish dream. | |
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The Rose
’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? | |
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The Wind
Not while your petals are so soft and fair. | 30 |
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The Rose
My buds are blind with leaves, they cannot see,— | |
| O Love, O Wind, will you not pity me? | |
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EVENING
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? | 35 |
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The Wind
Roses must live and love, and winds must blow. | |
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