THE stone upon the wayside seed that fell, And kept the spring rain from it, kept it too From the bird's mouth; and in that silent cell It quickened, after many days, and grew, Till, by-and-by, a rose, a single one, Lifted its little face into the sun. It chanced a wicked man approached one day, And saw the tender piteous look it wore: Perhaps one like it somewhere far away Grew in a garden-bed, or by the door That he in childish days had played around, For his knees, trembling, sunk upon the ground. Then, o'er this piece of bleeding earth, the tears Of penitence were wrung, until at last The golden key of love, that sin for years In his unquiet soul had rusted fast, Was loosened, and his heart, that very hour, Opened to God's good sunshine, like a flower. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE INDIAN BURYING GROUND by PHILIP FRENEAU THE MYSTIC TRUMPETER by WALT WHITMAN THE SWORD by ABU BAKR OF MARRAKESH DIRGE FOR THE LATE JAMES CURRIE, M.D., OF LIVERPOOL by LUCY AIKEN TRANSFIGURATION by LOUISA MAY ALCOTT |