 | Love-Songs |  |
157
A WHITE ROSE IN NOVEMBER.
I thought it was summer when I saw the white rose!
Oh can it be November, when so bright a blossom glows?
The tender blossom-maiden I place within my song,
To bloom therein, and smile therein, the whole year long!
Oh can it be November, when so bright a blossom glows?
The tender blossom-maiden I place within my song,
To bloom therein, and smile therein, the whole year long!
It cannot be November, it must be tender June:
The birds amid the tree-tops will wake and whisper soon:
The seas, blue-bright for summer, will chant their chorus strong
And flowers will crown our foreheads, the glad year long!
The birds amid the tree-tops will wake and whisper soon:
The seas, blue-bright for summer, will chant their chorus strong
And flowers will crown our foreheads, the glad year long!
Oh summer ever reaches us, if but a summermaid,
Sweet June wreathed in her tresses, gold August in each braid,
Smiles, laughs; if but her accents, so silver-sweet and clear,
Bring all the songs of spring-time, yea, every throstle, near.
Sweet June wreathed in her tresses, gold August in each braid,
Smiles, laughs; if but her accents, so silver-sweet and clear,
Bring all the songs of spring-time, yea, every throstle, near.
158
I knew it was summer when I saw the white rose!
Through not another blossom so sweet a beauty glows;
I know not any blossom so tender-sweet and white,
Though many blossoms richer have flamed upon my sight.
Through not another blossom so sweet a beauty glows;
I know not any blossom so tender-sweet and white,
Though many blossoms richer have flamed upon my sight.
It always must be summer when the white rose sings,
With music in her outspread sun-seeking petalwings!
It always must be summer where the white rose gleams,
For summer's self pursues her and glitters in her dreams.
With music in her outspread sun-seeking petalwings!
It always must be summer where the white rose gleams,
For summer's self pursues her and glitters in her dreams.
O white rose, white rose, soon you will be far
From England and my singing; but watch some clear glad star
That shineth over England above the Indian sea
And send your love, soft, star-like, by that glad star to me.
From England and my singing; but watch some clear glad star
That shineth over England above the Indian sea
And send your love, soft, star-like, by that glad star to me.
O white rose, white rose, soon you will be wed,
And all our days of laughter and singing will be dead;
But white rose, white rose, take my kiss away
Hid soft amid your petals, and therein let it stay!
And all our days of laughter and singing will be dead;
But white rose, white rose, take my kiss away
Hid soft amid your petals, and therein let it stay!
159
Hid sweet amid your petals; oh therein let it rest,
White rose, white rose, as in a scented nest
Of young soft blessed fragrance; and when you watch the foam
That breaks o'er Indian sand-banks, wave hands to me at home!
White rose, white rose, as in a scented nest
Of young soft blessed fragrance; and when you watch the foam
That breaks o'er Indian sand-banks, wave hands to me at home!
Nov. 16, 1878.
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