James Russell Lowell

The Rose: A Ballad

I
 
In his tower sat the poet
 Gazing on the roaring sea,
‘Take this rose,’ he sighed, 'and throw it
 Where there’s none that loveth me.
On the rock the billow bursteth
 And sinks back into the seas,
But in vain my spirit thirsteth
 So to burst and be at ease.
Take, O sea! the tender blossom
 That hath lain against my breast;
On thy black and angry bosom
 It will find a surer rest.
Life is vain, and love is hollow,
 Ugly death stands there behind,
Hate and scorn and hunger follow
 Him that toileth for his kind.’
Forth into the night he hurled it,
 And with bitter smile did mark
How the surly tempest whirled it
 Swift into the hungry dark.
Foam and spray drive back to leeward,
 And the gale, with dreary moan,
Drifts the helpless blossom seaward,
 Through the breakers all alone.
 
 
II
 
Stands a maiden, on the morrow,
 Musing by the wave-beat strand,
Half in hope and half in sorrow,
 Tracing words upon the sand:
‘Shall I ever then behold him
 Who hath been my life so long,
Ever to this sick heart told him,
 Be the spirit of his song?
Touch not, sea, the blessed letters
 I have traced upon thy shore,
Spare his name whose spirit fetters
 Mine with love forevermore!’
Swells the tide and overflows it,
 But, with omen pure and meet,
Brings a little rose, and throws it
 Humbly at the maiden’s feet.
Full of bliss she takes the token,
 And, upon her snowy breast,
Soothes the ruffled petals broken
 With the ocean’s fierce unrest.
‘Love is thine, O heart! and surely
 Peace shall also be thine own,
For the heart that trusteth purely
 Never long can pine alone.’
 
 
III
 
In his tower sits the poet,
 Blisses new and strange to him
Fill his heart and overflow it
 With a wonder sweet and dim.
Up the beach the ocean slideth
 With a whisper of delight,
And the moon in silence glideth
 Through the peaceful blue of night.
Rippling o’er the poet’s shoulder
 Flows a maiden’s golden hair,
Maiden lips, with love grown bolder,
 Kiss his moon-lit forehead bare.
‘Life is joy, and love is power,
 Death all fetters doth unbind,
Strength and wisdom only flower
 When we toil for all our kind.
Hope is truth,-the future giveth
 More than present takes away,
And the soul forever liveth
 Nearer God from day to day.’
Not a word the maiden uttered,
 Fullest hearts are slow to speak,
But a withered rose-leaf fluttered
 Down upon the poet’s cheek.
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