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Home  »  The World’s Best Poetry  »  The First Rose of Summer

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.

Poems of Home: II. For Children

The First Rose of Summer

Oliver Herford (1863–1935)

“OH dear! is Summer over?”

I heard a rosebud moan,

When first her eyes she opened,

And found she was alone.

“Oh, why did Summer leave me,

Little me, belated?

Where are the other roses?

I think they might have waited.”

Soon the little rosebud

Saw to her surprise

Other rosebuds opening,

So she dried her eyes.

Then I heard her laughing

Gaily in the sun,

“I thought Summer was over:

Why, it ’s just begun!”