| Thomas R. Lounsbury, ed. (1838–1915). Yale Book of American Verse. 1912. |
| |
| Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1803–1882 |
| |
| 38. The Rhodora |
| |
| On Being Asked Whence Is the Flower |
| |
| IN May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, | |
| I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, | |
| Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, | |
| To please the desert and the sluggish brook. | |
| The purple petals, fallen in the pool, | 5 |
| Made the black water with their beauty gay; | |
| Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool, | |
| And court the flower that cheapens his array. | |
| Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why | |
| This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, | 10 |
| Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, | |
| Then Beauty is its own excuse for being: | |
| Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose! | |
| I never thought to ask, I never knew: | |
| But, in my simple ignorance, suppose | 15 |
| The self-same Power that brought me there brought you. | |
|
|
