Poems (Emma M. Ballard Bell)/To the Flowers
For works with similar titles, see To the Flowers.
TO THE FLOWERS.
O fair and lovely blossoms, that adorn
All nature with your loveliness and grace!
From far-off South-lands blew the breezes mild,
And Springtime's gentle voice again was heard
That called you forth to follow in her train.
At her approach the moaning March-winds fled,
And April, 'mid its sunshine and its show'rs,
Led forth the floral train to welcome May.
All nature with your loveliness and grace!
From far-off South-lands blew the breezes mild,
And Springtime's gentle voice again was heard
That called you forth to follow in her train.
At her approach the moaning March-winds fled,
And April, 'mid its sunshine and its show'rs,
Led forth the floral train to welcome May.
Oh, say, fair children of the blooming spring,
Know ye the changes that old Time hath wrought
Since last the springtime blossoms met us here?
Heard ye the coming of that being dread,
The angel Death, whose dark and gloomy wing
O'er many hearthstones hath its shadows cast,
That never on this earth shall take their flight?
And now ye bloom o'er many new-made graves,
Where forms of infancy, of youth, and age
Are resting till the Resurrection morn.
Bright eyes that gazed upon the springtime flow'rs
Of that departed year, now with the past
Are closed forever to the light of earth;
And many hands that held them in their clasp
Are folded now in quiet, peaceful rest.
Know ye the changes that old Time hath wrought
Since last the springtime blossoms met us here?
Heard ye the coming of that being dread,
The angel Death, whose dark and gloomy wing
O'er many hearthstones hath its shadows cast,
That never on this earth shall take their flight?
And now ye bloom o'er many new-made graves,
Where forms of infancy, of youth, and age
Are resting till the Resurrection morn.
Bright eyes that gazed upon the springtime flow'rs
Of that departed year, now with the past
Are closed forever to the light of earth;
And many hands that held them in their clasp
Are folded now in quiet, peaceful rest.
Oh, ye are lovely! wheresoe'er ye dwell;
In far-off Greece by classic fount and flood,
Beneath Italia's bright and glowing skies,
In sunny plains, or silent solitude,
On prairie wild, in forest, or in dell.
Ye have a language, too, for ev'ry heart;
Ye are in ev'ry clime and ev'ry land
With deep, poetic meanings ever fraught.
In far-off Greece by classic fount and flood,
Beneath Italia's bright and glowing skies,
In sunny plains, or silent solitude,
On prairie wild, in forest, or in dell.
Ye have a language, too, for ev'ry heart;
Ye are in ev'ry clime and ev'ry land
With deep, poetic meanings ever fraught.
Sweet sisterhood of flow'rs, we welcome you;
And may your forms of fragile loveliness,
Though transient bright, remind us of that land
To which our longing spirit ever turns,—
That land where beauty never fades or dies!
And may your forms of fragile loveliness,
Though transient bright, remind us of that land
To which our longing spirit ever turns,—
That land where beauty never fades or dies!