Rose-Morals

Sidney Lanier 1842 (Macon) – 1881 (Lynn)



I. -- Red.

 Would that my songs might be
  What roses make by day and night --
Distillments of my clod of misery
   Into delight.

 Soul, could'st thou bare thy breast
  As yon red rose, and dare the day,
All clean, and large, and calm with velvet rest?
   Say yea -- say yea!

 Ah, dear my Rose, good-bye;
  The wind is up; so; drift away.
That songs from me as leaves from thee may fly,
   I strive, I pray.

  II. -- White.

 Soul, get thee to the heart
  Of yonder tuberose:  hide thee there --
There breathe the meditations of thine art
   Suffused with prayer.

 Of spirit grave yet light,
  How fervent fragrances uprise
Pure-born from these most rich and yet most white
   Virginities!

 Mulched with unsavory death,
  Grow, Soul! unto such white estate,
That virginal-prayerful art shall be thy breath,
   Thy work, thy fate.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

44 sec read
39

Quick analysis:

Scheme X ABAB CDCD EDED B FGFG BHBH IJIJ
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 811
Words 147
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 1, 4, 4, 4

Sidney Lanier

Sidney Lanier was a poet, writer, composer, critic, professor of literature at Johns Hopkins and first flutist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in Baltiimore. He wrote the Centennial cantata for the opening ceremony of the 1876 Centennial celebration in Philadelphia. more…

All Sidney Lanier poems | Sidney Lanier Books

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