 | Poems and Sonnets |  |
110
A DREAM OF ROSES.
He dreamed a dream of roses,
And bowers of delight
Where rosy love reposes
Through soft sweet hours of night,
Till eyes of his uncloses
The coming of the light;
And bowers of delight
Where rosy love reposes
Through soft sweet hours of night,
Till eyes of his uncloses
The coming of the light;
He dreamed of faces never
Seen save in depth of dreams,
When hours of darkness sever
What is from that which seems,
And raptures gone for ever
Return in rainbow gleams;
Seen save in depth of dreams,
When hours of darkness sever
What is from that which seems,
And raptures gone for ever
Return in rainbow gleams;
111
He dreamed that he was walking
By side of maiden fair,
A happy twain were talking,
And breath of evening air
Was sweet, and moths were hawking
Around them everywhere;
By side of maiden fair,
A happy twain were talking,
And breath of evening air
Was sweet, and moths were hawking
Around them everywhere;
And sweet the scent of clover,
And smiles of flowers around,
And odours wafted over
Their heads, and o'er the ground—
Queen Loveliness a lover
At eventide has found;
And smiles of flowers around,
And odours wafted over
Their heads, and o'er the ground—
Queen Loveliness a lover
At eventide has found;
The summer seems to bear them
Aloft in arms of love,
As if from earth to tear them
And carry them above,
All pain henceforth to spare them,
Brooding with wings of dove
Aloft in arms of love,
As if from earth to tear them
And carry them above,
All pain henceforth to spare them,
Brooding with wings of dove
112
Over sweet souls united
In silken love-spun bond,
Their separate beings plighted
By oath of kisses fond,
When lips that blush delighted,
Cling eager, and beyond
In silken love-spun bond,
Their separate beings plighted
By oath of kisses fond,
When lips that blush delighted,
Cling eager, and beyond
The veil seems half uplifted
And meaning of the world
Made plain, the curtain shifted,
The drop-scene upward furled,
And cloud-wreaths sidelong drifted,
And fog-banks backward hurled;
And meaning of the world
Made plain, the curtain shifted,
The drop-scene upward furled,
And cloud-wreaths sidelong drifted,
And fog-banks backward hurled;
For many a misty season
Clears up with love beside,
Truth is too much for treason
When two together ride,
And bright the reign of Reason
Beneath the sway of bride;
Clears up with love beside,
Truth is too much for treason
When two together ride,
And bright the reign of Reason
Beneath the sway of bride;
113
Four eyes can pierce a cloud-veil
That baffles two alone,
What seemed to be a shroud pale
In rainbow colours shown
Shines, as a suit of proud mail
Behind a monarch's throne!
That baffles two alone,
What seemed to be a shroud pale
In rainbow colours shown
Shines, as a suit of proud mail
Behind a monarch's throne!
The loneliness that slays us
Is over, and instead
From brokenness to raise us
A downward bending head
Hangs over us, and sways us
With smiles from heaven shed;
Is over, and instead
From brokenness to raise us
A downward bending head
Hangs over us, and sways us
With smiles from heaven shed;
And, were it not a dream, love,
My very soul would leap,
In rosy lips that gleam, love,
Like flowers from out a deep
Dim summer-scented sea, love,
Its utmost self to steep,
My very soul would leap,
In rosy lips that gleam, love,
Like flowers from out a deep
Dim summer-scented sea, love,
Its utmost self to steep,
114
Pressing from out the roses
All odours strong to save,
The ecstasy that closes
One's eyes as in a grave
Dug deep in seas of posies
Whose lips about one wave!
All odours strong to save,
The ecstasy that closes
One's eyes as in a grave
Dug deep in seas of posies
Whose lips about one wave!
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