Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WARS OF THE ROSES, by CHARLES WILLIAMS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WARS OF THE ROSES, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ho, white, white brother, tossing in the garden!
Last Line: So we whisper, so we shake, so we dream o' nights
Subject(s): Flowers; Gardens & Gardening; Roses; War Of The Roses


HO, white, white brother, tossing in the garden!
Ho, leaping brother, tossing on the stem,
Mind'st thou the old time, before the world was silent,
When hot and fierce we grew and pricked men's hearts to wrath in them?
When we rooted in dukes' helms, round queens' coifs we twined,
Tossed upon the battles, as now upon the wind
Tossing in the garden,
Walks of the rose garden:
Roses, swords, and helms a-gleam, madly all entwined!

They who walked among us, lovely lords and ladies,
We stung them, we blinded, our scent was in their blood:
And life was green beneath us, and white was death between us,
Gardens broke to wilderness of red rain and mud.
Pale grew red and red grew pale, rent by the rose-thorn
All our lovely, lordly petals trampled lay and torn,
Tossed about the garden,
Walks of the red garden;
Brake of swords a-quiver, tall maze of tangled thorn.
Like the riot and the ruin of a wild and drunken summer,
Flowers clung upon high castles, their Houses tossed to doom:
White June grew all the Parliament, the Throne a crimson August,
And Tower Hill was venomous in twine of mingled bloom.
Horse and rider struggling—red rose-stems all about them,
King and baron choking—white rose-buds there to flout them,
Tossed about the garden,
Walks of the red garden,
England grown a garden of mad roses all about!

Ho, ho! white brother, we tangled all the people,
We snared the lovely princes, we dragged the kings to woe,
Our hearts a crimson sword-play, our smell a reeling battle;
So red roses dream o' nights, white roses rumour so.
Ho, tossing brother, so we dream o' nights,
Shaking in the breeze as we shook upon the fights!
Tossing in the garden,
Walks of the rose-garden,
So we whisper, so we shake, so we dream o' nights





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net