The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Sheaf of Roses, by Elizabeth Gordon, Illustrated by Frederick W. Martin

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Contents

A Sheaf of Roses
A Bunch of Roses
White Cherokee
Cecil Bruner
Frau Karl Druski
White Banksia
Rose of Old Castile
Safrano
Pink Cherokee
Jacqueminot
Gold of Ophir
Ragged Robin
Killarney
Marie Van Houte
American Beauty
The Rainbow Rose
Sweet Brier Rose
Transcriber’s Notes

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A Sheaf of Roses

he rose was born of lovers’ sighs,
Of lovers’ tears and sobs,
And deep within its glowing heart
The heart of true love throbs;
Each rose that blooms an emblem is
Of love divine and true,
And I have made a sheaf of them
To send, with love, to you.

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A Bunch of Roses

etter than gifts of gleaming gold,
Or houses made by hands;
More precious than the glowing gems
Men seek in distant lands;
Breathing of love and purity,
Of constant hearts and true;
A bunch of roses, God’s own gift,
All wet with heaven’s dew.

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White Cherokee

n angel on her way to heaven,
One perfumed, starlit night,
Remembered one she’d left behind,
And pausing in her flight,
Looked back to earth, and shed a tear
For love left all forlorn.
Behold! Where fell that pearly drop
A pure white rose was born.

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Cecil Bruner

wo men there were in olden days
Who loved each other well.
To each man was the same fair maid
Dearer than words could tell.
One kissed her hand and rode away,
His heart with sorrow fraught;
Around that cottage threshold grew
The rose called “Friendly Thought.”

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Frau Karl Druski

  mother heard the war god call
Her well-loved first-born’s name.
With lips that smiled, but heart that bled,
She heard his dream of fame.
She pinned the colors on his breast
And watched him march away;
The rose they call “The Mother’s Prayer”
Blossomed that fateful day.

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White Banksia

ne journeyed to a foreign land
To teach the love of God.
The thorns of ignorance and strife
Beset the path he trod.
His prayer for faith and strength went up
To Him who hears all woes;
An answering sign to him was sent—
The sweet White Banksia Rose.

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Rose of Old Castile

  proud Castilian beauty left
Her home in sunny Spain,
And went with him who held her heart
A fairer home to gain.
To strange new lands the good ship sailed,
And where she touched her keel
There grew, in token of young love,
The Rose of Old Castile.

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Safrano

  Spanish maid of high degree
Lived in her patio.
Suitors she had, but none could touch
The maid’s pure heart of snow.
There came a gallant from the wars
Who’d vanquished all his foes;
He won her heart, and from her blush
Grew the Safrano Rose.

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Pink Cherokee

  tender, yearning mother-soul
Whose life had never known
The blessing of a baby’s heart
Beating against her own,
Found, rosy, smiling, at her door
A babe of mystery;
There bloomed the rose of mother love,
The rare Pink Cherokee.

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Jacqueminot

  boy and girl, from infancy
Playmates, good comrades too,
Walked hand in hand one summer day
A rare old garden through;
A meadow lark full-throated sang
His love song to the morn;
The crimson Jacqueminot grew there,
For there new love was born.

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Gold of Ophir

  dark-eyed Indian princess
Was wooed, so legends say,
By a brave and gallant soldier
Who loved and rode away;
Under the shadow of the hills
Capped by eternal snows,
She sleeps, enwrapped and sheltered by
The Gold of Ophir Rose.

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Ragged Robin

  dusky baby came to share
A gypsy’s caravan,
The dark-eyed mother loved the child
As only mothers can.
She laid him ’mongst the grasses, where
The south wind softly blows;
Love’s angel sent to mark the spot
The Ragged Robin Rose.

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Killarney

  bonnie Irish lassie
Followed her sweetheart true
To distant shores, where homesick tears
Bedimmed her eyes of blue;
The Little People heard her plaint,
And pitying her woes,
They planted as a sweet surprise
The pink Killarney Rose.

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Marie Van Houte

pon a cactus-covered hill
Facing the ocean blue,
A shining cross was raised aloft
By one whose heart was true;
The seeds of faith he scattered where
The western sunset glows,
Took root and grew, and blossomed in
The Crucifixion Rose.

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American Beauty

here great ambitions swirl around
A teeming, toiling mart,
A gray-haired gardener worked and hoped,
Love’s fair dream in his heart;
The vision bright he cherished, till
With velvet leaves uncurled,
A perfect rose rewarded him—
Love’s gift to all the world.

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The Rainbow Rose

he rainbow, on a summer day,
Glowing against the sky,
Was filled with pity as it heard
A hapless lover’s sigh;
A shower of sympathy it sent
To compass him around.
Where fell those drops of kindly balm
The Rainbow Rose was found.

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Sweet Brier Rose

ome love the spot where lilies fling
Their subtly sweet perfume;
Some love the languorous lotus, with
Its oriental bloom;
But drifting downward through, the years,
My loyal memory goes
To where my childhood’s treasure lives—
The wild Sweet Brier Rose.

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