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Home  »  A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895  »  The Rosy Musk-Mallow

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Alice E. Gillington

The Rosy Musk-Mallow

THE ROSY musk-mallow blooms where the south wind blows,

O my gypsy rose!

In the deep dark lanes where thou and I must meet;

So sweet!

Before the harvest moon’s gold glints over the down,

Or the brown-sailed trawler returns to the gray sea-town,

The rosy musk-mallow sways, and the south wind’s laughter

Follows our footsteps after!

The rosy musk-mallow blooms by the moor-brook’s flow,

So daintily O!

Where thou and I in the silence of night must pass,

My lass!

Over the stream with its ripple of song, to-night,

We will fly, we will run together, my heart’s delight!

The rosy musk-mallow sways, and the moor-brook’s laughter

Follows our footsteps after!

The rosy musk-mallow blooms within sound of the sea;

It curtseys to thee,

O my gypsy-queen, it curtseys adown to thy feet;

So sweet!

When dead leaves drift through the dusk of the autumn day,

And the red elf-lanthorns hang from the spindle-spray,

The rosy musk-mallow sways, and the sea ’s wild laughter

Follows our footsteps after!

The rosy musk-mallow blooms where the dim wood sleeps,

And the bind-weed creeps;

Through tangled wood-paths unknown we must take our flight,

To-night!

As the pale hedge-lilies around the dark elder wind,

Clasp thy white arms about me, nor look behind.

The rosy musk-mallow is closed, and the soft leaves’ laughter

Follows our footsteps after!