Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By John JamesPiatt

601 Rose and Root

THE ROSE aloft in sunny air,

Beloved alike by bird and bee,

Takes for the dark Root little care

That toils below it ceaselessly.

I put my question to the flower:

“Pride of the Summer, garden queen,

Why livest thou thy little hour?”

And the Rose answered, “I am seen.”

I put my question to the Root.

“I mine the earth content,” it said,

“A hidden miner underfoot:

I know a Rose is overhead.”