WILD rose,

Child rose,

Why did you come so late?

I had gleams of you,

And dreams of you,

And I could not choose but wait,

Thro' desolate days,

On lonely ways,

In the desert-land of Fate.

Child rose,

Wild rose,

Why did you come so late!

Child rose,

Wild rose,

Why did you linger so?

I saw your face

In a dreamland place

Years and years ago,--

Your ebon hair,

And your forehead fair,

And your deep dark eyes aglow.

Wild rose,

Child rose.

Why did you linger so?

Wild rose,

Child rose,

Altho' you never knew,

In the dark alone,

I have dug and sown,

For the sake of the Dream of You;

For your happy heart,

I plied my art,

And hoarded my morning dew.

Child rose,

Wild rose,

Has my dream too late come true?

Child rose,

Wild rose,

Why did you hide so long?

I could not live;

I have nought to give

But a little sheaf of song,

And a crown of thought,

That my brain has wrought,

And a love that is great and strong.

Wild rose,

Child rose,

Why did you hide so long?

Wild rose,

Child rose,

Never too late for me;

Love can redeem

The tardy dream

With immortality.

You bring me youth,

And joy, and truth,

You give a soul to me,

Child rose,

Wild rose,

Never too late for me!

Child rose,

Wild rose,

Up to your bower I climb,

By the golden stair

Of an olden prayer,

By the tendril grip of rhyme,

By the wings of love

That can soar above

The limits of space and time.

Wild rose,

Child rose,

Up to your bower I climb.

Wild rose,

Child rose,

I bring to you as is meet,

All I have done,

And lost and won.

Victory and defeat;

You were the goal

Of my fighting soul.

The blood of my heart's best beat.

Child rose.

Wild rose,

I lay my all at your feet.

Nay, child rose,

Wild rose,

Years are between us twain.

You have had days

Of joy and praise,

I have had years of pain,

And the bud of you,

With its morning dew,

I can never on earth attain.

Wild rose,

Child rose,

Years are between us twain.

Wild rose,

Child rose,

Into the dark I go;

But the dark will shine

With these eyes of thine,--

Will shine and blossom and glow;

The bud of thee,

Immortally,

Deep in my heart will grow.

Wild rose,

Child rose,

Into the dark I go!