POUR we roses into wine! In this good wine these roses Pour, and quaff the drink divine Till sorrow's hold uncloses From our hearts, both mine and thine. Kings and clowns from diverse ways At Charon's boat are meeting. None escape their fated days. . . . Ah! friend, while time is fleeting Let us sing the rose's praise. Roses are the chief of all The flowers in garden closes, Flowers of joy, and therewithal Of love -- and so the roses "Venus' violets" I call. Roses are Love's own bouquet And joyance of the Graces. Dawn doth give them pearls alway Whose white their red enlaces Dipped in dew at break of day. Roses are the Gods' delight, And maidens' best adorning, Maidens deck their bosoms white With crimson roses, scorning Gold and gems, though ne'er so bright. What is fair without the rose? Beauty is born of roses. Venus' skin is all one rose, Aurora's touch is roses, Rising suns have brows of rose. Be my brows with roses crowned In place of laurel's glory. Call the twice-born God renowned, Our father hale and hoary; Spread him roses all around; Bacchus loves the beauty sweet Of crimson-petalled roses. Roses fill his vine-retreat Where care-free he reposes Drinking mid the Summer's heat. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MAN TO BE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON CRITIC AND POET by EMMA LAZARUS THE ANGLER'S SONG by WILLIAM BASSE THE EXAMPLE by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE WEARY BLUES by JAMES LANGSTON HUGHES AFTER THE WINTER by CLAUDE MCKAY |