RED ROSES by MARION PELTON GUILD

I ROAM in a garden vestal-fair
The livelong tranquil day,
'Mid spotless lilies and snowdrops there
And tremulous tints of May;
Where myriad violets scent the gloom
Of the forest-winding stream,
And waxen white camellias bloom
With a chill, unearthly gleam;
But I sicken of all, and cry to Fate
For the red, red roses beyond the gate.

From every land, from every clime,
The earth-stars here are come,
And proudly they banish the old lord Time
From their glamour-haunted home;
But where the purple pansies grow,
Uplifting their eyes to mine,
I wander, restless and sad and slow,
And seek for a flower divine.
Then I sicken of all, and cry to Fate
For the red, red roses beyond the gate.

For there, from my vine-wreathed prison-wall,
I see their passionate glow;
I catch a fragrance rarer than all
The breath of my flowers of snow;
The wine of their beauty wakes and thrills
My spirit more and more;
And a new, enthralling message fills
The magic they outpour.
So I gaze in longing, and cry to Fate
For the red, red roses beyond the gate.

"Beyond the gate," moans the traveler Wind,
"There are darker sights than these;
Freshness and bloom are hard to find
And the shade of Eden trees;
But the plains are bare and the mountains cold,
And drear is the desolate sea;
The woe of the world is grim and old,
'Tis death to thy flowers and thee."
But I hearken not; I cry to Fate
For the red, red roses beyond the gate.

I know there is sorrow and gloom and pain
In the world for a soul untried;
That my buds may wither, nor bloom again,
If the gate be opened wide.
But I cry for freedom, for love, for life,
For the real that conquers the dream!
And I know that there, in the heart of the strife,
The victor's banners gleam.
So I break the barrier, and fly with Fate
To the red, red roses beyond the gate!

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...