Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE DARK MAN by NORA (CHESSON) HOPPER

Poem Explanation

First Line: ROSE O' THE WORLD, SHE CAME TO MY BED
Last Line: BUT MY FIDDLE KNOWS, AND I TALK TO HER.
Subject(s): PATRIOTISM;
Rose o' the world, she came to my bed
And changed the dreams of my heart and head;
For joy of mine she left grief of hers
And garlanded me with the prickly furze.

Rose o' the world, they go out and in,
And watch me dream and my mother spin;
And they pity the tears on my sleeping face
While my soul's away in a fairy place.

Rose o' the world, they have words galore,
For wide's the swing of my mother's door;
And soft they speak of my darkened brain,
But what do they know of my heart's dear pain?

Rose o' the world, the grief you give
Is worth all days that a man may live;
Is worth all prayers that the colleens say
On the night that darkens the wedding-day.

Rose o' the world, what man would wed
When he might remember your face instead?
Might go to his grave with the blessed pain
Of hungering after your face again?

Rose o' the world, they may talk their fill,
But dreams are good, and my life stands still,
While the neighbours talk by their fires astir;
But my fiddle knows, and I talk to her.



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