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    Rose and Roof-Tree — Poems
    Rose and Roof-Tree — Poems
    Rose and Roof-Tree — Poems
    Ebook138 pages57 minutes

    Rose and Roof-Tree — Poems

    By George Parsons Lathrop

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 15, 2013
    Rose and Roof-Tree — Poems
    Author

    George Parsons Lathrop

    George Parsons Lathrop (1851-1898) was an American editor, poet, and novelist. Born in Honolulu, he was educated in New York City and Dresden, Germany. After a brief time abroad, he returned to New York to pursue his literary interests. After marrying Rose Hawthorne, the daughter of American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, in 1871, Lathrop became the associate editor for the Atlantic Monthly and later the Boston Courier. In the late 1870s, he worked as an editor for Roberts Brothers, overseeing the publication of such works as A Masque of Poets (1878), which compiled the works of several dozen English and American writers. Part of the Boston-based publisher’s “No Name” series, A Masque of Poets presented the works of little-known writers—including Emily Dickinson—alongside such recognized masters as Christina Rossetti and James Russell Lowell, leaving each poem anonymous to allow the reader to experience the work without thought of reputation. A relatively minor figure in nineteenth century American literature, Lathrop was nevertheless an interesting and industrious man whose personal and professional life brought him in contact with some of the leading artists of the era.

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      Book preview

      Rose and Roof-Tree — Poems - George Parsons Lathrop

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rose and Roof-Tree, by George Parsons Lathrop

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Rose and Roof-Tree Poems

      Author: George Parsons Lathrop

      Posting Date: November 7, 2012 [EBook #7110] Release Date: December, 2004 First Posted: March 11, 2003

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROSE AND ROOF-TREE ***

      Produced by Michelle Shephard, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

      ROSE AND ROOF-TREE:

      POEMS

      by

      GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP

      [Illustration: JESSAMINE]

        Upon the enchanted ladder of his rhymes,

            Round after round and patiently

            The poet ever upward climbs.

      DEDICATION.

      I need give my verse no hint as to whom it sings for. The rose, knowing her own right, makes servitors of the light-rays to carry her color. So every line here shall in some sense breathe of thee, and in its very face bear record of her whom, however unworthily, it seeks to serve and honor.

      CONTENTS.

      WINDFALLS.

      ROSE AND ROOF-TREE MUSIC OF GROWTH A SONG LONG AGO MELANCHOLY CONTENTMENT

      PART FIRST.

      AN APRIL ARIA THE BOBOLINK THE SUN-SHOWER JUNE LONGINGS A RUNE OF THE RAIN THE SONG-SPARROW FAIRHAVEN BAY CHANT FOR AUTUMN BEFORE THE SNOW THE GHOSTS OF GROWTH THE LILY-POND

      PART SECOND.

        FIRST GLANCE

        THE SUNSHINE OF THINE EYES

        WHEN, LOOKING DEEPLY IN THY FACE

        WITHIN A YEAR

        THE SINGING WIRE

        MOODS OF LOVE:

                  I. In Absence

                 II. Heart's Fountain

                III. South-Wind Song

                 IV. The Lover's Year

                  V. New Worlds

                 VI. Wedding-Night

        LOVE'S DEFEAT

        MAY AND MARRIAGE

        THE FISHER OF THE CAPE

        SAILOR'S SONG

        JESSAMINE

        GRIEF'S HERO

        A FACE IN THE STREET

        THE BATHER

        HELEN AT THE LOOM

        O WHOLESOME DEATH

        BURIAL-SONG FOR SUMNER

        ARISE, AMERICAN!

        THE SILENT TIDE

      WINDFALLS.

      ROSE AND ROOF-TREE.

         O wayward rose, why dost thou wreathe so high,

         Wasting thyself in sweet-breath'd ecstasy?

        "The pulses of the wind my life uplift,

         And through my sprays I feel the sunlight sift;

        "And all my fibres, in a quick consent

         Entwined, aspire to fill their heavenward bent.

        "I feel the shaking of the far-off sea,

         And all things growing blend their life with me:

        "When men and women on me look, there glows

         Within my veins a life not of the rose.

        "Then let me grow, until I touch the sky,

         And let me grow and grow until I die!"

         So, every year, the sweet rose shooteth higher,

         And scales the roof upon its wings of fire,

         And pricks the air, in lovely discontent,

         With thorns that question still of its intent.

         But when it reached the roof-tree, there it clung,

         Nor ever farther up its blossoms flung.

         O wayward rose, why hast thou ceased to climb?

         Hast thou forgot the ardor of thy prime?

        O hearken!—thus the rose-spray, listening,—

        "With what weird music sweet these full hearts ring!

        "What mazy ripples of deep, eddying sound,

         Rise, touch the roof-tree old, and drift around,

        "Bearing aloft the burden musical

         Of joys and griefs from human hearts that fall!

        "Green stem and fair, flush'd circle I will lay

         Along the roof, and listen here alway;

        "For rose and tree, and every leafy growth

         That toward the sky unfolds with spiry blowth,

        "No purpose hath save this, to breathe a grace

         O'er men, and in men's hearts to seek a place.

        "Therefore, O poet, thou who gav'st to me

         The homage of thy humble sympathy,

        "No longer vest thy verse in rose-leaves frail:—

         Let the heart's voice loud through thy pæan wail!"

      * * * * *

         Lo, at my feet the wind of autumn throws

         A hundred turbulent blossoms of the rose,

         Full of the voices of the sea and grove

         And air, and full of hidden, murmured love,

         And warm with passion through the roof-tree sent;

         Dew-drenched with tears;—all in one wild gush spent!

      MUSIC OF GROWTH.

        Music is in all growing things;

        And underneath the silky wings

          Of smallest insects there is stirred

          A pulse of air that must be heard.

        Earth's silence lives, and throbs, and sings.

        If poet from the vibrant strings

        Of his poor heart a measure flings,

          Laugh not, that he no trumpet blows:

          It may be that Heaven hears and knows

        His language of low listenings.

      A SONG LONG AGO.

        Through the pauses of thy fervid singing

                Fell crystal sound

        That thy fingers from the keys were flinging

                Lightly around:

        I felt the vine-like harmonies close clinging

                About my soul;

        And to my eyes, as fruit of their sweet bringing,

                The full tear stole!

      MELANCHOLY.

        Daughter of my nobler hope

          That dying gave thee birth,

             Sweet Melancholy!

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