Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/1036

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And the tears shall flow faster and faster,
  Brim over and baffle resistance,
  And roll down blear'd roads to each distance
Of past desolation and years;
  Till they cover the place of each sorrow,
  And leave you no past and no morrow:
For what man is able to master
And stem the great Fountain of Tears?

But the floods and the tears meet and gather;
  The sound of them all grows like thunder:
  —O into what bosom, I wonder,
Is pour'd the whole sorrow of years?
  For Eternity only seems keeping
  Account of the great human weeping:
May God, then, the Maker and Father—
May He find a place for the tears!



JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY

1844-1890


831. A White Rose

The red rose whispers of passion,
  And the white rose breathes of love;
O, the red rose is a falcon,
  And the white rose is a dove.

But I send you a cream-white rosebud
  With a flush on its petal tips;
For the love that is purest and sweetest
  Has a kiss of desire on the lips.