P s 
 
 ^«^.-. 
 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Chap. Copyright No. 
 
 ShelL-'i^i.?-^ 6 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
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 (|oUipn']|oli 
 
 an& 
 
 By 
 
 Caroline W.D.Rich 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
GOLDEN -ROD 
 
 ^AND SOME^ 
 OTHER VERSES 
 
 .BY. 
 
 > CAROLINE W. D. RICH 
 
 Buffalo: 
 
 The Peter Pa«I Book Company 
 
 . J895 . 
 

 Copyrighted 
 By C W. D. Rich 
 
 1895 
 
GOLDEN-ROD 
 
 golden-rod, golden-rod, nestling in green, 
 A joy to all eyes is thy beautiful sheen! 
 
 O, who could the sunshine's bright treasures 
 
 unfold, 
 And leave on thy petals such luminous gold! 
 
 1 bow down my head with my ear to the sod, 
 And listen for answer, O fair golden-rod! 
 
 A whisper — so gentle it may be the whir 
 
 Of a butterfly's wing, or thy rootlets faint stir — 
 
 In musical cadences softly replies; 
 *^ An angel came down with his wonderful dyes. 
 And painted, and painted until as you see 
 Our faces are golden as golden can be/' 
 
WHO KNOWS 
 
 Who knows how soon a rose will fade — 
 How soon a birdling first will fly? 
 Who knows how soon the dew will dry 
 
 Upon the grasses in the glade, 
 
 Where flickering shadows fitful lie? 
 
 Who knows where thistle-down will lodge 
 
 When once by zephyrs lightly tossed; 
 
 Or, how a word breathed on the air, 
 Across the lake returns again 
 From echoing hills — a sweet refrain? 
 
 Amid life's wear, so much is lost. 
 
 Will love and truth abide? Who knows! 
 
LIFE'S LESSON 
 
 '^For we are all like swinunefs in a sea, 
 Poised on the top of a large wave of fate, 
 "Which seems uncertain to which side to fall/ 
 
 MATTHEW ARNOLD. 
 
 What is lifers destiny? What is its rest? 
 Search the unsearchable; yet in thy quest 
 Secrets may meet thee too holy to touch. 
 The soul findeth peace by not seeking too much* 
 There ^s more to our living than timers ceaseless 
 
 flight, 
 
 Of sunrise and noonday, evening and night, 
 Over and over, like waves on the shore, 
 Fretting its adamant* Life holds much more 
 Than swimming alone on the dead sea of fate, 
 Uncertain, unknowing, in darkness to wait. 
 Lifers lessons seem tangled, yet patience is best; 
 Bear gladly lifers burdens — God giveth sweet 
 rest. 
 
DE SENECTUTE 
 
 As figures in our dreams, how often pass 
 
 The scenes of childhood, through the busy 
 brain. 
 Flitting, like shadows o^er the waving grass; 
 
 Each but a moment seen, retreats again. 
 So, as we older grow, how softly close 
 
 The doors of sense, shutting us from the world. 
 Like withering petals of a perfumed rose. 
 
 Which, over ripe, have shrunk and inward 
 curled. 
 
 No more the ecstatic joy, nor deep delights; 
 
 Taste, hearing, vision, please no more — ^these 
 gone. 
 The spirit seeks to catch celestial lights 
 
 That from the golden city, drifting on. 
 Attract the dimming eyes of him who waits 
 To hear the vesper summons from its gates. 
 
A RHAPSODY 
 
 **He bfingeth good things/' 
 
 I listen for the coming, 
 For the coming of his feet; 
 In the rosy, dewy dawning 
 When the crimson tints of morning 
 Chase the shadows of the night 
 To their retreat; 
 Then I listen for the throbbing— 
 
 And the sobbing, 
 Of nature^s faint heart beat. 
 
 I listen for the coming, 
 For the coming of his feet; 
 When the sunlight is a-quiver 
 On forest, hill and river — 
 And an undertone of pain 
 Everywhere — 
 
And I hear the helpless moaning — 
 
 And the groaning — 
 And waitings of the dying in the air* 
 
 I listen for the coming. 
 For the coming of his feet; 
 While a sweet elusive vision — 
 Like the olden dreams elysian, 
 As the vesper tones of peace 
 Ring soft and low — 
 Brings me glimses of a morrow 
 
 Free from sorrow — 
 And now the coming of his feet I know* 
 
 IDLEHAVEN 
 . J895 . 
 
flUL 0CE)K" COMPANY 
 
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