ROSE of all Roses, Rose of all the World! <br />The tall thought-woven sails, that flap unfurled <br />Above the tide of hours, trouble the air, <br />And God's bell buoyed to be the water's care; <br />While hushed from fear, or loud with hope, a band <br />With blown, spray-dabbled hair gather at hand, <br />Turn if you may from battles never done, <br />I call, as they go by me one by one, <br />Danger no refuge holds, and war no peace, <br />For him who hears love sing and never cease, <br />Beside her clean-swept hearth, her quiet shade: <br />But gather all for whom no love hath made <br />A woven silence, or but came to cast <br />A song into the air, and singing passed <br />To smile on the pale dawn; and gather you <br />Who have sougft more than is in rain or dew, <br />Or in the sun and moon, or on the earth, <br />Or sighs amid the wandering, starry mirth, <br />Or comes in laughter from the sea's sad lips, <br />And wage God's battles in the long grey ships. <br />The sad, the lonely, the insatiable, <br />To these Old Night shall all her mystery tell; <br />God's bell has claimed them by the little cry <br />Of their sad hearts, that may not live nor die. <br />Rose of all Roses, Rose of all the World! <br />You, too, have come where the dim tides are hurled <br />Upon the wharves of sorrow, and heard ring <br />The bell that calls us on; the sweet far thing. <br />Beauty grown sad with its eternity <br />Made you of us, and of the dim grey sea. <br />Our long ships loose thought-woven sails and wait, <br />For God has bid them share an equal fate; <br />And when at last, defeated in His wars, <br />They have gone down under the same white stars, <br />We shall no longer hear the little cry <br />Of our sad hearts, that may not live nor die.<br /><br />William Butler Yeats<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-rose-of-battle/
