? s ^•57 913 THE ROSE 2IAMES ^mxCCMB RHILET Class ?B2 1 n c- Book •p --' Gmm^ M' ^ ^ • ■.: COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. Decorated by Emily Hall Chamberlain The BobbS' Merrill Company publishers Copyright, 1883, 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1897, 1898, 1901. 1905, 1913 by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Ail rights reserved ©CI,A3G1804 THE ROSE T tossed its head at the wooing breeze; And the sun, like a bashful swain. Beamed on it through the waving trees With a passion all in vain, — For my rose laughed in a crimson glee. m The humming-bird, like a courtier gay. Dipped down with a dalliant song. And twanged his wings through the roundelay Of love the whole day long : Yet my rose turned from his minstrelsy And hid in the leaves in wait for me. O*^^^ O^ The firefly came in the twilight dim My red, red rose to woo — Till quenched was the flame of love in him And the light of his lantern too. As my rose wept with dewdrops three And hid in the leaves in wait for me. ^^^Sfif-t^,i£ s^^gssTrr^ And I said : I will cull my own sweet rose — Some day 1 w^ill claim as mine The priceless worth of the flower that knows No change, but a bloom divine — The bloom of a fadeless constancy That hides in the leaves in wait for me ! -r->"^a?;F^ fff^-rftWi^i Mi But time passed by in a strange disguise. And I marked it not, but lay In a lazy dream, with drowsy eyes, Till the summer slipped away. And a chill wind sang in a minor key: Where is the rose that waits for thee ? " I dream to-day, o'er a purple stain Of bloom on a withered stalk. Pelted down by the autumn rain In the dust of the garden- walk. That an Angel-rose in the world to be Will hide in the leaves in wait for me. EP 17 1913 liliiillii. 016 255 979 5 f