The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley [i.e. J. B. L. Warren] |
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| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
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THE INVITATION |
 | The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley |  |
466
THE INVITATION
Come, my love, upon the mountains,
Amber day is almost done.
Like the drift of golden fountains
Gleam your ringlets in the sun.
Amber day is almost done.
Like the drift of golden fountains
Gleam your ringlets in the sun.
For the pimpernel at even
Half shuts up her crimson eye,
Wide she stared at open heaven,
When the noon fell hot and dry.
Half shuts up her crimson eye,
Wide she stared at open heaven,
When the noon fell hot and dry.
At the zenith of their cluster
Bloom three sister flowers of heath,
Veiling hill with wine-deep lustre
In an amethystine wreath.
Bloom three sister flowers of heath,
Veiling hill with wine-deep lustre
In an amethystine wreath.
First, the deep cinereous heather,
Next, the paler heath-bell springs
Nodding cream-rose heads together,
Last, the small-flowered lilac lings.
Next, the paler heath-bell springs
Nodding cream-rose heads together,
Last, the small-flowered lilac lings.
Here long fields of scarlet clover
With bright breadths of hawthorn blend:
Gently on the enamelled cover
Silver-crystal dews descend.
With bright breadths of hawthorn blend:
Gently on the enamelled cover
Silver-crystal dews descend.
Swallows hang at eave and gable,
Some in wavering circles drift:
Like a rushing comet sable
Swings the wide-winged screaming swift.
Some in wavering circles drift:
Like a rushing comet sable
Swings the wide-winged screaming swift.
Here are hedges where the hornbeams
Brownly hang all winter long:
Leaves that catch the slanting morn-beams,
Leaves that mask the linnet's song.
Brownly hang all winter long:
Leaves that catch the slanting morn-beams,
Leaves that mask the linnet's song.
Come upon the hills, my darling,
Come where grass is sweet and deep,
We will watch the speckled starling
Perched upon the short-eared sheep.
Come where grass is sweet and deep,
We will watch the speckled starling
Perched upon the short-eared sheep.
467
Here the bents for many a gowan
Or slight harebell shalt thou search:
For thy lips are like the rowan,
And thy arms are like the birch.
Or slight harebell shalt thou search:
For thy lips are like the rowan,
And thy arms are like the birch.
Come, love, where the sundew glitters,
Four round leaves of dewy red.
Come, where shrill the skylark twitters
To a throbbing speck o'erhead.
Four round leaves of dewy red.
Come, where shrill the skylark twitters
To a throbbing speck o'erhead.
In those hayfields, red with sorrel,
Ox-eye daisies wade abreast:
By that stile we had a quarrel
All about a chaffinch nest.
Ox-eye daisies wade abreast:
By that stile we had a quarrel
All about a chaffinch nest.
Under that shock-headed teazel,
Like a ploughman among flowers,
You were startled by a weazel
Crept to shelter from the showers.
Like a ploughman among flowers,
You were startled by a weazel
Crept to shelter from the showers.
See, these hazel nuts I've found them,
Half are green and half are rosed,
With the ragged frill around them
In a triple cluster closed.
Half are green and half are rosed,
With the ragged frill around them
In a triple cluster closed.
There in yonder flowering privet,
While with clasping hands we kissed,
Snap it went, the golden rivet
Off the bracelet at your wrist.
While with clasping hands we kissed,
Snap it went, the golden rivet
Off the bracelet at your wrist.
Then we heard the goldfinch whistle
In his coat of gold and red,
Then we watched him tear the thistle
And the knapweed, head by head.
In his coat of gold and red,
Then we watched him tear the thistle
And the knapweed, head by head.
There we saw the tutsan tarnish
Fragrant leaves of metal sheen,
Plump its waxy fruit and varnish
Eggs of coral frilled in green.
Fragrant leaves of metal sheen,
Plump its waxy fruit and varnish
Eggs of coral frilled in green.
Many flowers I brought my treasure,
Blooms I showed my mountain bee
Cones of wild rose, gold-of-pleasure
Butcher's broom, anemone;
Blooms I showed my mountain bee
Cones of wild rose, gold-of-pleasure
Butcher's broom, anemone;
468
Wrinkled oaks and plumy bracken,
Milkwort, skull-cap, sweet gale-bush,
Frog-pipe, more than you can reckon,
Cotton grass and flowering rush.
Milkwort, skull-cap, sweet gale-bush,
Frog-pipe, more than you can reckon,
Cotton grass and flowering rush.
Rosy-stemmed the woodbine's tangle,
Rings of horn-like honied flowers,
Grape-like bryony clusters dangle
From the secret hazel bowers.
Rings of horn-like honied flowers,
Grape-like bryony clusters dangle
From the secret hazel bowers.
There I'll clasp thee like a lover
And my arms around thee spread,
As the dodder wraps the clover
Round with tight-drawn ropes of red.
And my arms around thee spread,
As the dodder wraps the clover
Round with tight-drawn ropes of red.
In my love I cannot waver,
Thou to me art Fate and Doom:
I should die to lose thy favour,
I am constant till the tomb.
Thou to me art Fate and Doom:
I should die to lose thy favour,
I am constant till the tomb.
If the petrel has no portal
Save the threshold of the foam,
Yet the swallow loves the mortal,
Building nest upon his home.
Save the threshold of the foam,
Yet the swallow loves the mortal,
Building nest upon his home.
None the thistledown can follow
In its flight for many miles,
Yet the house-leek, like a swallow,
Settles on the village tiles.
In its flight for many miles,
Yet the house-leek, like a swallow,
Settles on the village tiles.
O I am not light and fickle,
None such sweetness could betray;
Time will weep upon his sickle
When he wrongs thy gold with gray.
None such sweetness could betray;
Time will weep upon his sickle
When he wrongs thy gold with gray.
August 9th, 1894,
| The Collected Poems of Lord De Tabley | |