With a Rose from Conway Castle

On hoary Conway’s battlemented height, O poet-heart, I pluck for thee a rose! Through arch and court the sweet wind wandering goes; Round each high tower the rooks in airy flight Circle and wheel, all bathed in amber light; Low at my feet the winding river flows; Valley and town, entranced in deep repose, War doth no more appall, nor foes affright. Thou knowest how softly on the castle walls, Where mosses creep, and ivies far and free Fling forth their pennants to the freshening breeze, Like God’s own benison this sunshine falls. Therefore, O friend, across the sundering seas, Fair Conway sends this sweet wild rose to thee!

Collection: 

More from Poet

  • A path across a meadow fair and sweet, Where clover-blooms the lithesome grasses greet, A path worn smooth by his impetuous feet. A straight, swift path—and at its end, star Gleaming behind the lilac’s fragrant bar, And her soft eyes, more luminous by far! A path across the meadow fair and sweet...

  • On hoary Conway’s battlemented height, O poet-heart, I pluck for thee a rose! Through arch and court the sweet wind wandering goes; Round each high tower the rooks in airy flight Circle and wheel, all bathed in amber light; Low at my feet the winding river flows; Valley and town, entranced in...

  • O earth! art thou not weary of thy graves? Dear, patient mother Earth, upon thy breast How are they heaped from farthest east to west! From the dim north, where the wild storm-wind raves O’er the cold surge that chills the shore it laves, To sunlit isles by softest seas caressed, Where roses...

  • The sun comes up and the sun goes down; The night mist shroudeth the sleeping town; But if it be dark or if it be day, If the tempests beat or the breezes play, Still here on this upland slope I lie, Looking up to the changeful sky. Naught am I but a fallow field; Never a crop my acres yield....