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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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ACT II.
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ACT III.
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ACT IV.
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ACT V.
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VIOLENZIA.
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ACT I.
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ACT II.
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ACT III.
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ACT IV.
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ACT V.
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[The bubble of the silver-springing waves]

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52

AFTER MY SISTER'S DEATH.

The westering sun in copious floods
Pours thick his slanting beams,
Fair show the shining eastern woods,
And fair the glancing streams.
Just such another glittering scene,
And just a year gone by,
As if no time did intervene,
Met my rejoicing eye.
Spring with loose hand rich gifts did share
Through her advancing realm;
White showed the bloom upon the pear,
And green the bursting elm.
Cheerly the thrush with broken notes
Did give the day adieu;
And through the trees the red-tiled cotes
Broke brightly into view.
Just such another spring so fast
Repairs the earth again,
But, oh, a brighter spring is past
I never shall regain.
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Spring of my soul! my being's May
Departed, and for ever!
There is no voice but speaks to say
For ever, and for ever!
The sun's hot rays may soon unloose
Pale Winter's frozen grasp,
New life in Nature soon induce
The warm air's circling clasp.
But what reviving summer sun
Shall thaw thy hand, O Death?
Or breezy South, when once 'tis flown,
Restore the stolen breath?
What! shall the faithful God, who leads
The long revolving year,—
Who in his bosom warms the seeds,
And breathes on Nature's bier,—
Let lapse in earth our mortal goal—
This life, our seed immortal?
Or this diviner spring—our soul,
Let freeze in Death's cold portal?
It may not and it cannot be!
Cease, doubtful, trembling heart!
Trust then thy God; nor doubt that she
Survives, not far apart.
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