Christina Georgina Rossetti - In the Willow Shade-Ghizela Rowe

[ti:In The Willow Shade] [ar:Ghizela Rowe] [al:Spring - A Season In Verse] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]In The Willow Shade - Ghizela Rowe [00:00.63]In The Willow Shade by Christina Georgina Rossetti [00:03.86] [00:05.15]I sat beneath a willow tree [00:06.79]Where water falls and calls; [00:08.91]While fancies upon fancies solaced me [00:11.52]Some true and some were false [00:13.38] [00:14.02]Who set their heart upon a hope [00:15.92]That never comes to pass [00:17.94]Droop in the end like fading heliotrope [00:20.61]The sun's wan looking-glass [00:22.58] [00:23.35]Who set their will upon a whim [00:25.66]Clung to through good and ill [00:27.75]Are wrecked alike whether they sink or swim [00:30.40]Or hit or miss their will [00:32.01] [00:32.56]All things are vain that wax and wane [00:35.10]For which we waste our breath; [00:36.68] [00:37.51]Love only doth not wane and is not vain [00:40.82]Love only outlives death [00:42.64] [00:43.75]A singing lark rose toward the sky [00:46.17] [00:46.72]Circling he sang amain; [00:48.28] [00:48.79]He sang a speck scarce visible sky-high [00:52.09]And then he sank again [00:53.68] [00:54.61]A second like a sunlit spark [00:56.99]Flashed singing up his track; [00:59.27]But never overtook that foremost lark [01:02.06]And songless fluttered back [01:03.89] [01:04.71]A hovering melody of birds [01:06.66]Haunted the air above; [01:08.47]They clearly sang contentment without words [01:11.30]And youth and joy and love [01:13.10] [01:13.82]O silvery weeping willow tree [01:16.23]With all leaves shivering [01:18.17]Have you no purpose but to shadow me [01:20.56]Beside this rippled spring [01:22.20] [01:23.23]On this first fleeting day of Spring [01:25.62]For Winter is gone by [01:27.16]And every bird on every quivering wing [01:29.46]Floats in a sunny sky; [01:31.08] [01:31.90]On this first Summer-like soft day [01:34.35]While sunshine steeps the air [01:36.24] [01:36.75]And every cloud has gat itself away [01:39.48]And birds sing everywhere [01:40.99] [01:41.68]Have you no purpose in the world [01:43.37]But thus to shadow me [01:45.29]With all your tender drooping twigs unfurled [01:48.74]O weeping willow tree [01:50.40] [01:51.29]With all your tremulous leaves outspread [01:54.29]Betwixt me and the sun [01:56.05]While here I loiter on a mossy bed [01:58.48]With half my work undone; [02:00.20] [02:01.10]My work undone that should be done [02:03.10]At once with all my might; [02:05.14]For after the long day and lingering sun [02:08.20]Comes the unworking night [02:10.00] [02:10.99]This day is lapsing on its way [02:13.05]Is lapsing out of sight; [02:14.97]And after all the chances of the day [02:17.31]Comes the resourceless night [02:19.10] [02:19.87]The weeping willow shook its head [02:21.66]And stretched its shadow long; [02:23.26] [02:23.77]The west grew crimson the sun smoldered red [02:27.06]The birds forbore a song [02:28.64] [02:29.47]Slow wind sighed through the willow leaves [02:32.20]The ripple made a moan [02:33.89]The world drooped murmuring like a thing that grieves; [02:37.43]And then I felt alone [02:38.85] [02:39.57]I rose to go and felt the chill [02:42.14]And shivered as I went; [02:43.79]Yet shivering wondered and I wonder still [02:46.70]What more that willow meant; [02:48.34] [02:49.18]That silvery weeping willow tree [02:51.53] [02:52.05]With all leaves shivering [02:54.05]Which spent one long day overshadowing me [02:57.34]Beside a spring in Spring