Ballads and Lyrics

by Bliss Carman

 

GOLDEN ROWAN

 
SHE lived where the mountains go down to the sea,
    And river and tide confer.
        Golden Rowan, in Menalowan,
    Was the name they gave to her.

She had the soul no circumstance
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    Can hurry or defer.
        Golden Rowan, of Menalowan,
    How time stood still for her!

Her playmates for their lovers grew,
    But that shy wanderer,
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        Golden Rowan, of Menalowan,
    Knew love was not for her.

Hers was the love of wilding things;
    To hear a squirrel chir
        In the golden rowan of Menalowan
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    Was joy enough for her.

She sleeps on the hill with the lonely sun,
    Where in the days that were,
        The golden rowan of Menalowan
    So often shadowed her.
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The scarlet fruit will come to fill,
    The scarlet spring to stir
        The golden rowan of Menalowan,
    And wake no dream for her.

Only the wind is over her grave,
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    For mourner and comforter;
        And “Golden Rowan, of Menalowan,”
    Is all we know of her.