ROSA COELI 
15 
 
Laughing upon the laughing lake below, 
Expectant of some strange experience 
Worth all the woes of sense, 
Some drop of nectar worth a world of wine, 
Some grace of One divine 
Worth more than all life’s grace, and more than life 
intense. 
Was there a wonder if the silken boy 
Found her a-playing on the bluebell marge 
And drank from golden vats the wine of joy ;   
Hot, eager, overcoming in her breath, 
As she would draw him to those large 
And firm white breasts and mix her liquid life 
With his in pagan strife ?   
Or with a grace like God, a stealth like love,  
Pour on him from above 
Wine from the purple vats of death ?   
Nay !  ’tis no wonder—shall they wonder then,  
These bat-eyed newspaper-besotted men, 
If thou and I have found the Elixir rare 
That giveth Life to those whoso drinketh it, 
The Stone beyond compare, 
The harmony of the Circle and the Square, 
All that surpasseth mortal wit 
Even to imagine ?  we have found it, Rose, 
Rose of the Stars, Rose of the utmost snows !   
Where ?  Where Love knows.