The first wild rose in wayside hedge, 
This year I wandering see, 
I pluck, and send it as a pledge, 
My own Wild Rose, to Thee. 

For when my gaze first met thy gaze, 
We were knee-deep in June: 
The nights were only dreamier days, 
And all the hours in tune. 

I found thee, like the eglantine, 
Sweet, simple, and apart; 
And, from that hour, thy smile hath been 
The flower that scents my heart. 

And, ever since, when tendrils grace 
Young copse or weathered bole 
With rosebuds, straight I see thy face, 
And gaze into thy soul. 

A natural bud of love Thou art, 
Where, gazing down, I view, 
Deep hidden in thy fragrant heart, 
A drop of heavenly dew. 

Go, wild rose, to my Wild Rose dear; 
Bid her come swift and soon. 
O would that She were always here! 
It then were always June. 

Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations,
That is known as the Children's Hour.

I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.

From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.

A whisper, and then a silence:
Yet I know by their merry eyes
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.

A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!

They climb up into my turret
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape, they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.

They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine!

Do you think, o blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all!

I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!