James Rhoades

James Rhoades Poems

James Rhoades Biography

James Rhoades was an English poet, mystic, translator and author (1841–1923). Author of The City of the five gates (Chapman & Hall,1913) which gives as a preface note: "The following poem is intended to convey the doctrine of what is often mistermed 'The New Thought'; namely, that by conscious union with the indwelling Principle of Life, man may attain completeness here and now. 'Out of the Silence,' while structurally conforming to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, is directly opposite in its teaching." A quote from this pamphlet (From Out of the Silence) is included in The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917 (Nicholson & Lee, eds) as is O Soul of Mine. James Rhoades is extensively quoted with approval by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch in On the Art of Reading (1920).)

The Best Poem Of James Rhoades

Roses

Roses red and white
On the wild-rose tree;
Once 'twas heaven in your sweet light
Here to breathe and be.
Larks were loud, skies blue,
Earth ablaze with June;
What had lovers' hearts to do
But to beat in tune?
Ah! when next I stood
In the trysting-glade,
On each bough were drops like blood
Where the flower had swayed:
Winds were loud, leaves few,
Birds no song could make;
What have lonely hearts to do
But to bear, or break?
Ye that pipe on bough
Ditties of love-lore,
Mute be all your music now,
For she hears no more.
On the wild-rose tree,
Roses white and red,
Old and out of date are ye,
For my love is dead.

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