| |
| ALL in our marriage garden | |
| Grew, smiling up to God, | |
| A bonnier flower than ever | |
| Suckt the green warmth of the sod; | |
| O, beautiful unfathomably | 5 |
| Its little life unfurled; | |
| And crown of all things was our wee | |
| White Rose of all the world. | |
| |
| From out a balmy bosom | |
| Our bud of beauty grew; | 10 |
| It fed on smiles for sunshine, | |
| On tears for daintier dew: | |
| Aye nestling warm and tenderly, | |
| Our leaves of love were curled | |
| So close and close about our wee | 15 |
| White Rose of all the world. | |
| |
| With mystical faint fragrance | |
| Our house of life she filled; | |
| Revealed each hour some fairy tower | |
| Where wingèd hopes might build! | 20 |
| We saw—though none like us might see— | |
| Such precious promise pearled | |
| Upon the petals of our wee | |
| White Rose of all the world. | |
| |
| But evermore the halo | 25 |
| Of angel-light increased, | |
| Like the mystery of moonlight | |
| That folds some fairy feast. | |
| Snow-white, snow-soft, snow-silently | |
| Our darling bud upcurled, | 30 |
| And dropt i’ the grave—God’s lap—our wee | |
| White Rose of all the world. | |
| |
| Our Rose was but in blossom, | |
| Our life was but in spring, | |
| When down the solemn midnight | 35 |
| We heard the spirits sing, | |
| “Another bud of infancy | |
| With holy dews impearled!” | |
| And in their hands they bore our wee | |
| White Rose of all the world. | 40 |
| |
| You scarce could think so small a thing | |
| Could leave a loss so large; | |
| Her little light such shadow fling | |
| From dawn to sunset’s marge. | |
| In other springs our life may be | 45 |
| In bannered bloom unfurled, | |
| But never, never match our wee | |
| White Rose of all the world. | |
| |
