A chant of love for England, and other poems

Chapter 57: A ROSE

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About This Book

A collection of poems ranging from patriotic and wartime tributes to intimate lyrics, ballads, and sonnets. Several pieces honor soldiers and examine sacrifice, grief, and courage; narrative poems recall naval engagements and coastal life, sometimes with dramatic rescues and moral reckonings. Shorter lyrics and flower fancies evoke nature, music, and memory, while portraits and character sketches capture theatrical and historical personae. The volume alternates public declamation with domestic tenderness, using formal verse, melodic diction, and varied moods to explore duty, loss, beauty, and the persistence of cultural and personal ideals.

A ROSE

Too-perfect Rose, thy heavy breath has power

To wake a dim, an unexplained regret:

Art body to the soul of some deep hour

That all my seasons have not yielded yet?

But if it be so—Hour, too-perfect Hour,

Ah, blow not full, though all the yearning days

Should tremble bud-like, since the wind must shower

Thine unreturning grace along the ways!