 | The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan |  |
A DEDICATION.
I. To An Old Enemy.
I would have snatch'd a bay leaf from thy brow,
Wronging the chaplet on an honoured head;
In peace and tenderness I bring thee now
A lily-flower instead.
Wronging the chaplet on an honoured head;
In peace and tenderness I bring thee now
A lily-flower instead.
Pure as thy purpose, blameless as thy song,
Sweet as thy spirit may this offering be!
Forget the bitter blame that did thee wrong,
And take the gift from me!
Sweet as thy spirit may this offering be!
Forget the bitter blame that did thee wrong,
And take the gift from me!
October 1881.
II. To Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Calmly, thy royal robe of Death around thee,
Thou sleepest, and weeping Brethren round thee stand;
Gently they placed, ere yet God's angel crown'd thee,
My lily in thy hand!
Thou sleepest, and weeping Brethren round thee stand;
Gently they placed, ere yet God's angel crown'd thee,
My lily in thy hand!
I never knew thee living, O my brother!
But on thy breast my lily of love now lies;
And by that token we shall know each other,
When God's voice saith ‘Arise!’
But on thy breast my lily of love now lies;
And by that token we shall know each other,
When God's voice saith ‘Arise!’
August 1882.
| The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan | |