free-verse22 lines
Amongst the Roses
by Henry KendallI 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 face
In 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 slept
By 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 perfumes
From ripe-red blooms
In a dance and a dazzle of Roses.