LOVE OR GOLD
Gold is a stingy offering
In sorrow's raging storm,
It cannot consolation bring—
But love is deep and warm.
In sorrow's raging storm,
It cannot consolation bring—
But love is deep and warm.
Love's bright and holy tributes spring
From hearts with love aglow,
While all gold's favors hollow ring
As empty idle show.
From hearts with love aglow,
While all gold's favors hollow ring
As empty idle show.
THE ROSE AND THE THORN
I sought the flower I loved the best
Amid the garden's varied bloom,
A perfect bud with sweet perfume,
A rose more fair than all the rest
That I might wear it on my breast
And guard it ever tenderly.
I found the flower that bloomed for me
Beside the pathway, smiling lest
The wanderer might pass it by
And it be left to fade and die.
I seized the flower with wild delight,
Though cruelly my hand was torn.
It faded e'er another night
And left me but the ugly thorn.
Amid the garden's varied bloom,
A perfect bud with sweet perfume,
A rose more fair than all the rest
That I might wear it on my breast
And guard it ever tenderly.
I found the flower that bloomed for me
Beside the pathway, smiling lest
The wanderer might pass it by
And it be left to fade and die.
I seized the flower with wild delight,
Though cruelly my hand was torn.
It faded e'er another night
And left me but the ugly thorn.
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