Amongst the Roses
I walked through a Forest, beneath the hot noon,On Etheline calling and calling!One said: “She will hear you and come to you soon,When the coolness, my brother, is falling.”But I whispered: “O Darling, I falter with pain!”And the thirsty leaves rustled, and hissed for the rain,Where a wayfarer halted and slept on the plain;And dreamt of a garden of Roses!Of a cool sweet place,And a nestling faceIn a dance and a dazzle of Roses.
In the drouth of a Desert, outwearied, I wept,O Etheline, darkened with dolours!But, folded in sunset, how long have you sleptBy the Roses all reeling with colours?A tree from its tresses a blossom did shake,It fell on her face, and I feared she would wake,So I brushed it away for her sweet sake;In that garden of beautiful Roses!In the dreamy perfumesFrom ripe-red bloomsIn a dance and a dazzle of Roses.