Poems (Van Rensselaer)/Cherokee Roses
CHEROKEE ROSES
(Two Voices.)If we could see how from the mouldThese miracles of white unfold,Chill were the world that ignoranceNow warms with flamings of romance;The world were bleak that now we seeThrough opaline clouds of mystery.God's grace it is we cannot guessThe alchemies of loveliness,Or know how from the voiceless darkSprings to its birth the vital spark.
Dullard, oh, dullard, to deny The permanence of poesy! What has the mortal learned that took One letter of charm from Nature's book? Each mastery of far space hath lent New splendors to the firmament, And could we win from mother-earth Insight into her ways of birth, Our dazzled eyes might scarcely bear The streams of beauty pulsing there.
If we could know why perish mustThese perfect petals, dust to dust, Our ears unstopped, our eyes unsealed,Would find the Secret then revealed;Sparrow and moth and moon would tellWhat now the grave-grass hideth well.God's grace it is we cannot pryWhere the long generations lie:So dreams of heaven shine unalloyedIf heaven there be, if but the void.
Coward, oh, coward, to be glad No tortured soul has ever had From past mortality a sign. Are there no graves thou callest thine Where thou hast couched thy head to weep Lest silence mean an endless sleep? Or comes no hour when thy tired soul Longs that a sleep may be the whole? Coward, to fear a signal shown, Should heaven it pledge or peace alone.