Poems (Henderson)/Desire and Fulfilment
DESIRE AND FULFILMENT.
Desire.Bonny red rose, thou art sweet, Sweet, yea and beautiful too;With thy fire and thy passionate sweetness, And thy golden heart heavy with dew;But rose, Oh! rose, I have felt, In my heart a mystical truth,That there must be a sweeter and fairer, Than thou, in the garden of Youth.
Oh! golden sunshine aflaming, And wrapping thy bright banner's foldsRound thine idols of sunset enthroned, On towers of purple and gold,Thy splendor of glory and passion, Fill all my soul with a yearning,For the invisible dream of delight, That shadows my heart with its presence,An unspoken, rapturous thrill. What chord of the heart hast thou touched,Oh! magical finger of June, That I who love thee should long,For aught save thy sweetness and bloom.
Interpretation.Oh! heart thou hast found thy desire, To yearn for and not to possess;Not the grace of her rounded white arm, Nor her red lips loveliness;Not the sheen of her golden hair falling, Like sun-waves on filmy spray,Nor eyes starry-shining entranced thee, Oh! heart from my keeping away,But a glory surpassing all hoping, O'ershadowed her presence and brought,The mystical angel of Love, To beat with his shadowy wing,At the chambers of Passion and Thought. But she would not bend to my love,I would not declare it to her, And so poor dove, thou must sing,Alone in thy garden of fir.
Fulfilment.She is mine, she is mine, and the rose, And the moon and the violet too,All know of the pledge she gave me, In the twilight purple with dew.For the opening roses peeped, And the moon sent out a ray,Of rifted light and glory, From her cloud-veiled sanctuary.
She is mine, Oh! life thou art sweet, And thou shalt sweeter be, For the touch of her pure lips clings, To mine in loyalty.Let it creep to thy depths, Oh! heart, Hallowing thee.Hallowing thee with noblest truth, Blessing thee with pure delight,Guiding thee in shining ways, A guardian angel bright.
