The Rainbow And The Rose

Chapter 5

IF I might build a palace, fair

With every joy of soul and sense,

And set my heart as sentry there

To guard your happy innocence--

If I might plant a hedge so strong

No creeping sorrow could writhe through,

And find my whole life not too long

To give, to make your hedge for you--

If I could teach the wandering air

To bring no sounds that were not sweet,

Could teach the earth that only fair

Untrodden flower deserved your feet:

Would I not tear the secret scroll

Where all your griefs lie closely curled,

And give your little hand control

Of all the joys of all the world?

But ah! I have no skill to raise

The palace, teach the hedge to grow;

The common airs blow through your days,

By common ways your dear feet go.

And you must twine of common flowers

The wreath that happy women wear,

And bear in desolate darkened hours

The common griefs that all men bear.

The pinions of my love I fold

Your little shoulders close about:

Ah--could my love keep out the cold

And shut the creeping sorrows out!

Rough paths will tire your darling feet,

Gray skies will weep your tears above,

While round you still, in torment, beat

The impotent wings of mother-love.

TO A CHILD.

(Rosamund.)

The fairies have been busy while you slept;

They have been laughing where the sad rain wept,

They have taught Beauty to the ignorant flowers,

Set tasks of hope to weary wind-torn bowers,

And heard the lessons learned in school-rooms cold

By seedling snapdragon and marigold.

At dawn, while still you slept, I grew aware

How good the fairies are, how many and fair.

The fairy whose delightful gown is red

Across a corner of our garden sped,

And, where her flying raiment fluttered past,

Its roseate reflection still is cast:

Red poppies by the rhododendron's side,

Paeonies gorgeous in their summer pride,

And red may-bushes by the old red wall

Shower down their crimson petals over all.

Then she whose gown is gold, and gold her hair,

Swept down the golden steep straight sunbeam-stair,

She lit the tulip-lamps, she lit the torch

Of hollyhock beside the cottage porch.

She dressed the honeysuckle in fringe of gold,

She gave the king-cups fairy wealth to hold,

She kissed St. John's wort till it opened wide,

She set the yarrow by the river side.

Then came the lady all whose robes are white:

She made the pale buds blossom in delight,

Set silver stars upon the jasmine's hair,

And gave the stream white lily-buds to wear.

She painted lilies white, and pearl-white phlox,

White poppies, passion-flowers and gray-leaved stocks.

Her pure kind touch redeemed the most forlorn,

And even the vile petunia smiled, new-born.

The dearest fairy of all--green is her gown--

She kissed the plane-trees in the tiresome town,

She smoothed the pastures and the lawn's pale sheen,

She decked the boughs with hangings fresh and green,

She showed each flower the one and only way

Its beauty of shape and colour to display;

She taught the world to be a Paradise

Of changing leaf and blade, for tired eyes.

Then, one and all, they came where you were laid

In your strait bed, my little lovely maid;

The red-robed fairy kissed your lips, your face,

The white-robed made your heart her dwelling-place.

Into your eyes the green robed fairy smiled;

The golden fairy touched your dreams, my child,

And one, not named, but mightiest, made my Dear

The innermost rose of the re-flowered year.

May, 1898.

BIRTHDAY TALK FOR A CHILD.

DADDY dear, I'm only four

And I'd rather not be more:

Four's the nicest age to be--

Two and two, or one and three.

All I love is two and two,

Mother, Fabian, Paul and you;

All you love is one and three,

Mother, Fabian, Paul and me.

Give your little girl a kiss

Because she learned and told you this.

TO ROSAMUND.

AND it is fair and very fair

This maze of blossom and sweet air,

This drift of orchard snows,

This royal promise of the rose

Wherein your young eyes see

Such buds of scented joys to be.

A gay green garden, softly fanned

By the blythe breeze that blows

To speed your ship of dreams to the enchanted land.

But I--beyond the budding screen

Of green and red and white and green,

Behind the radiant show

Of things that cling and grow and glow

I see the plains where lie

The hopes of days gone by:

Gray breadths of melancholy, crossed

By winds that coldly blow

From that cold sea wherein my argosy is lost.

FROM THE TUSCAN.

WHEN in the west the red sun sank in glory,

The cypress trees stood up like gold, fine gold;

The mother told her little child the story

Of the gold trees the heavenly gardens hold.

In golden dreams the child sees golden rivers,

Gold trees, gold blossoms, golden boughs and leaves,

Without, the cypress in the night wind shivers,

Weeps with the rain and with the darkness grieves.

MOTHER SONG.

From the Portuguese.

HEAVY my heart is, heavy to carry,

Full of soft foldings, of downy enwrapments--

And the outer fold of all is love,

And the next soft fold is love,

And the next, finer and softer, is love again;

And were they unwound before the eyes

More folds and more folds and more folds would unroll

Of love--always love,

And, quite at the last,

Deep in the nest, in the soft-packed nest,

One last fold, turned back, would disclose

You, little heart of my heart,

Laid there so warm, so soft, so soft,

Not knowing where you lie, nor how softly,

Nor why your nest is so soft,

Nor how your nest is so warm.

You, little heart of my heart,

You lie in my heart,

Warm, safe and soft as this body of yours,

This dear kissed body of yours that lies

Here in my arms and sucks the strength from my breast,

The strength you will break my heart with one of these days.