Roses And Rue

2Could we dig up this long-buried treasure,

3Were it worth the pleasure,

4We never could learn love's song,

5We are parted too long.

6Could the passionate past that is fled

7Call back its dead,

8Could we live it all over again,

9Were it worth the pain!

10I remember we used to meet

11By an ivied seat,

12And you warbled each pretty word

13With the air of a bird;

14And your voice had a quaver in it,

15Just like a linnet,

16And shook, as the blackbird's throat

17With its last big note;

18And your eyes, they were green and grey

19Like an April day,

20But lit into amethyst

21When I stooped and kissed;

22And your mouth, it would never smile

23For a long, long while,

24Then it rippled all over with laughter

25Five minutes after.

26You were always afraid of a shower,

27Just like a flower:

28I remember you started and ran

29When the rain began.

30I remember I never could catch you,

31For no one could match you,

32You had wonderful, luminous, fleet,

33Little wings to your feet.

34I remember your hair - did I tie it?

35For it always ran riot -

36Like a tangled sunbeam of gold:

37These things are old.

38I remember so well the room,

39And the lilac bloom

40That beat at the dripping pane

41In the warm June rain;

42And the colour of your gown,

43It was amber-brown,

44And two yellow satin bows

45From your shoulders rose.

46And the handkerchief of French lace

47Which you held to your face -

48Had a small tear left a stain?

49Or was it the rain?

50On your hand as it waved adieu

51There were veins of blue;

52In your voice as it said good-bye

53Was a petulant cry,

54'You have only wasted your life.'

55(Ah, that was the knife!)

56When I rushed through the garden gate

57It was all too late.

58Could we live it over again,

59Were it worth the pain,

60Could the passionate past that is fled

61Call back its dead!

62Well, if my heart must break,

63Dear love, for your sake,

64It will break in music, I know,

65Poets' hearts break so.

66But strange that I was not told

67That the brain can hold

68In a tiny ivory cell

69God's heaven and hell.