Walter Savage Landor: The Three Roses; Well I Remember How You Smiled; Twenty Years Hence

Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864)

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The Three Roses

When the buds began to burst,

Long ago, with Rose the First

I was walking; joyous then

Far above all other men,

Till before us up there stood

Britonferry's oaken wood,

Whispering, "Happy as thou art,

Happiness and thou must part."

Many summers have gone by

Since a Second Rose and I

(Rose from the same stem) have told

This and other tales of old.

She upon her wedding day

Carried home my tenderest lay:

From her lap I now have heard

Gleeful, chirping, Rose the Third.

Not for her this hand of mine

Rhyme with nuptial wreath shall twine;

Cold and torpid it must lie,

Mute the tongue, and closed the eye.

Well I Remember How You Smiled

Well I remember how you smiled

To see me write your name upon

The soft sea-sand . . . "O! what a child!

You think you're writing upon stone!"

I have since written what no tide

Shall ever wash away, what men

Unborn shall read o'er ocean wide

And find Ianthe's name again.

Twenty Years Hence

Twenty years hence my eyes may grow

If not quite dim, yet rather so,

Still yours from others they shall know

Twenty years hence.

Twenty years hence though it may hap

That I be called to take a nap

In a cool cell where thunderclap

Was never heard,

There breathe but o'er my arch of grass

A not too sadly sighed Alas,

And I shall catch, ere you can pass,

That winged word.

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