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THE OPENING OF THE ROSES

Oh see in all their varied, fair unfoldings,
The rosebuds opening, opening to the light!
White waxen scrolls and tinted silken lusters,
And crimson velvet folds in wreaths and clusters;
They seem all tangled in my heart's life-story,
Its sadness and its sweetness and its glory;
The red and white ones mingled in a cross,
My life's strange heritage of life and loss,
With all the sweetness born of patient trust,
Born to sunshine out of dark and dust;
I love them all—pink-tipped and amber-hued,
But these my love with deepest aim have wooed.


REDEMPTION SONG

O the angels are singing because, because,
Christ beareth my burden to-day!
From the tomb in my heart they are coming to roll
The stone of my sorrow away, away,
The angels will roll it away!

O the angels are singing for joy, for joy,
When Christ took my burden of clay,
When He stooped to lift what was bearing me down,
The stone of my sorrow, to-day, to-day,
The angels will roll it away!

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