ROSA IGNOTA
I
INVOCATION
My unknown Rose!
Sweet-hearted, scented purely
With all the passion of my heart, if now
I sing new songs to thee
Where many songs before have marked thee surely
Their own, let vagrant Liberty
Inform my songs; for I, of the pure brow
And the soul that glows
With the fervency of eld, invoke thee; for I have known thee :
Wandering far into the cities I found thee,
Unsuspected still, and round thee
The idle worshippers that the wind hath blown thee.
It is well; for I know thee and thy magic grace,
And the history of thy race,
And the times of eld
When thou wast born, compelled
By sundawn to ope thine eyes.—
Ah! Wise!
Thou hast not shadowed the thunder,
And thereunder
Is set the manifold wonderment of thee,
Star, star of the seal...
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