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Poems and Essays

By the late William Caldwell Roscoe. (Edited with a Prefatory Memoir, by his Brother-in-law, Richard Holt Hutton)
Roscoe, William Caldwell (1823-1859)

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MINOR POEMS.
  
[Clouds and mists and vapours dim]
  
THE FALSE FONTANLEE.
  
F. M.
  
AD PYRRHAM.
  
TO LAURA R.,
  
ARIADNE.
  
A NIGHTINGALE IN EASTBURY WOODS.
  
AFTER THE HUNGARIAN WAR.
  
OPPORTUNITY.
  
LINES AFTER MY FATHER'S DEATH.
  
TO THE PLANET VENUS,
  
[Rarely to our mortal eyes]
  
TO THE MARCH SUN.
  
A DREAM AND NO DREAM.
  
VENIT.
  
[When I asked her, “Wilt thou kiss me?’]
  
THE GOLDEN DAYS.
  
LOVE'S CREED.
  
[On many an English lady's face]
  
EXCUSE.
  
[A presence! a glory celestial!]
  
SONG.
  
OVER THE WEST.
  
“FREI IST DER BURSCH!”
  
TO LITTLE A. C. IN THE GARDEN AT EASTBURY.
  
FOR EVER.
  
AFTER MY SISTER'S DEATH.
  
AT THE SAME TIME.
  
AT NIGHT, AFTER MY SISTER'S DEATH.
  
[Why fear that the departed grieves]
  
FORD GREY OF WERKE TO HIS MISTRESS.
  
[I have a thought that fain would speak]
  
“IF IT DIE, IT BRINGETH FORTH MUCH FRUIT.”
  
MUSIC.
  
A BLIND GIRL'S QUESTIONINGS.
  
BEFORE DAWN.
  
BY THE SEASHORE.
  
A VISION.
  
[Lord, at thy feet we do not kneel]
  
THE YEAR OF LOVE.
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SONNETS.
  
A WET AUTUMN.
  
AT THE CHESHIRE POINT, LINLEY WOOD.
  
[Like a musician that with flying finger]
  
AT NIGHT.
  
MY FATHER'S DEATH.
  
TO MY MOTHER.
  
GIBSON'S STATUE OF AURORA.
  
TO M. S.
  
M. S.
  
TO THE REV. JOHN HAMILTON THOM.
  
[O Muse the Comforter! that in this vale]
  
TO A LADY PREFERRING CALM TO PASSIONATE POETRY.
  
LAUDATRIX TEMPORIS ACTI.
  
MIDNIGHT ON NEW YEAR'S EVE.
  
THE TWO NIGHTS.
  
A CHRISTMAS SONNET.
  
[Sad is my lot; among the shining spheres]
  
TO A FRIEND IN GRIEF.
  
TO A FRIEND.
  
IN DEJECTION. I.
  
IN DEJECTION II.
  
I
  
II
  
III
  
DAYBREAK IN FEBRUARY.
  
SYMBOLS OF VICTORY.
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ELIDUKE, COUNT OF YVELOC.
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ACT I
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Scene I.
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Scene II.
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Scene III.
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ACT II.
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Scene III.
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ACT III.
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ACT IV.
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Scene III.
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ACT V.
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Scene V.
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VIOLENZIA.
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ACT I.
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Scene I.
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Scene IV.
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ACT II.
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Scene I.
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 VIII. 
Scene VIII.
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ACT III.
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Scene III.
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ACT IV.
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Scene VII.
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ACT V.
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Scene III.
  
[The bubble of the silver-springing waves]

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27

TO THE PLANET VENUS,

SHINING ON A WREATH OF FLOWERS HUNG OVER A LADY'S NAME CARVED ON A BEECH-TREE.

Again i' th' year's slow flight
I stand beneath this tree,
Where once I carved, apart from common sight,
With reverent handicraft thy name, O Emilie,
And now renew the rite.
For since she may not hear,
Nor I lay bare, my passion,
Or breathe one love-word in her listening ear,
I'll carve my love on trees, in ancient lover's fashion,
And woo some favouring sphere.
Lo, golden Aphrodite
Appears to pay her duty;
See where she rises wrapped in robes of light,
And, like some crimson spot dyeing the cheek of beauty,
Flushes the face of night!
O amorous child of Even,
The sky is all too cold;
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Turn earthward, Queen, thy burning eye from heaven;
Quit the pale crowd of stars;—no love-tales there are told,
Or changing love-signs given.
But I can breathe a tale
More passionately true
Than ever flashed a maiden's cheek with pale;
O Planet Queen, delay thy course across the blue;—
O, furl thy flickering sail!
She hears and gives a sign,
Pouring in golden rain
Mysterious glory on my flowery shrine;
The enwreathed blossoms bent lift their blue heads again,
Tasting her breath divine.
So shall my love, though now
Signless and dull it lies,
Fearing to shade with care that ivory brow,
Read once again love-tokens in her responsive eyes,
And breathe no common vow.
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