The Road of Roses

The Sun of Childhood tender
 * Illumes the long white way

With touch of rosy splendor,
 * All in the dawn of day.

And ever as he passes,
 * And through the forest runs,

He lights on leaves and grasses,
 * A thousand little suns.

And, like a gleaming river
 * That to the sea descends,

The long white road runs ever
 * To where the Rainbow ends

The bee his small wings closes,
 * And makes his sweet abode,

Within the hearts of roses
 * That bloom beside the road.

And Spring’s wise little lady,
 * The Primrose, opes her eyne,

And keeps in places shady
 * Her golden lamps ashine.

The birds, with sunlight sheening
 * Their throats, sing all a-row,

A song whose mystic meaning
 * Only the children know.

It tells of strange lands under
 * The Sunset, strange and fair,

And of the World of Wonder
 * Above the Rainbow Stair.

It tells of how To-Morrow
 * Will bring a shining sheaf

Of joys without a sorrow,
 * Of hours without a grief.

So, with clear voices ringing,
 * And posies in their hands,

The children journey singing
 * Unto the Wonder Lands.