The Rose and the Wind
Dawn
The Rose:When think you comes the Wind,
The Wind that kisses me and is so kind?
Lo! how the Lily sleeps! her sleep is light;
Would I were like the Lily, pale and white!
Will the Wind come?
The Beech:
Perchance for you too soon.
The Rose:
If not, how could I live until the noon?
What,think you, Beech-tree, makes the Wind delay?
Why comes he not at the breaking of the day?
The Beech:
Hush child, and like the Lily, go to sleep.
The Rose:
You know I cannot.
The Beech:
Nay then, do not weep. (After a pause)
Your lover comes, be happy now, O Rose!
He softly through my bending branches goes.
Soon he shall come and you shall feel his kiss.
The Rose:
Already my flushed heart grows faint with bliss,
Love, I have longed for you through all the night.
The Wind:
And I to kiss your petals warm and bright.
The Rose:
Laugh round me, Love, and kiss me; all is well.
Nay, have no fear, the Lily will not tell.
Morning
The Rose:
'Twas dawn when you first came; and now the sun
Shines brightly, and the dews of dawn are done.
'Tis well you take me so in your embrace;
But lay back again into my place,
For I am worn, perhaps with bliss extreme.
The Wind:
Nay, you must wake, Love from this foolish dream.
The Rose:
'Tis you, Love, who seem changed; your laugh is loud;
And 'neath your stormy kiss my head is bowed.
O Love, O Wind, a space will you not spare?
The Wind:
Not while your petals are so soft and fair.
The Rose:
My buds are blind with leaves, they cannot see,-
O Love, O Wind, will you not pity me?
Evening
The Beech:
O Wind, a word with you before you pass;
What did you to the Rose that on the grass
Broken she lies and pale, who loved you so?
The Wind:
Roses must live and love, and winds must blow.
Philip Bourke Marston
