Poem by Thomas Hardy

The Spell of the Rose

‘I mean to build a hall anon,
And shape two turrets there,
And a broad newelled stair,
And a cool well for crystal water;
Yes; I will build a hall anon,
Plant roses love shall feed upon,
And apple-trees and pear.’

He set to build the manor-hall,
And shaped the turrets there,
And the broad newelled stair,
And the cool well for crystal water;
He built for me that manor-hall,
And planted many trees withal,
But no rose anywhere.

And as he planted never a rose
That bears the flower of love,
Though other flowers throve
Some heart-bane moved our souls to sever
Since he had planted never a rose;
And misconceits raised horrid shows,
And agonies came thereof.

‘I’ll mend these miseries,’ then said I,
And so, at dead of night,
I went and, screened from sight,
That nought should keep our souls in severance,
I set a rose-bush. ‘This,’ said I,
‘May end divisions dire and wry,
And long-drawn days of blight.’

But I was called from earth – yea, called
Before my rose-bush grew;
And would that now I knew
What feels he of the tree I planted,
And whether, after I was called
To be a ghost, he, as of old,
Gave me his heart anew!

Perhaps now blooms that queen of trees
I set but saw not grow,
And he, beside its glow –
Eyes couched of the mis-vision that blurred me –
Ay, there beside that queen of trees
He sees me as I was, though sees
Too late to tell me so!

1. Afternoon Service at Mellstock
2. At the Word ‘Farewell’
3. The Three Tall Men
4. The Dead Bastard
5. The Supplanter

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