Poems (Odom)/A Jessamine Flower
A JESSAMINE FLOWER.INSCRIBED TO MY SISTER "MADGE."
Only a soft, white jessamine flower
With its pressed leaves pale and fair,
Bringing to me from my dear old home
A breath of its fragrant air.
With its pressed leaves pale and fair,
Bringing to me from my dear old home
A breath of its fragrant air.
It comes like the touch of a spirit hand
Bathing my heart in its bloom,
Rousing the memories laid to rest
In their coldly quiet tomb.
Bathing my heart in its bloom,
Rousing the memories laid to rest
In their coldly quiet tomb.
Ah! well I remember the spot where it grew,
And opened its petals of snow—
'T is draping and wreathing the white column still,
As it did in the days long ago.
And opened its petals of snow—
'T is draping and wreathing the white column still,
As it did in the days long ago.
I stood in its shade on that clear June night,
With its white flowers blooming above;
My young heart aglow in my cheeks as it played
The first fairy prelude of love.
With its white flowers blooming above;
My young heart aglow in my cheeks as it played
The first fairy prelude of love.
The years glided on, death came to our home—
Floated in on the Jessamine's breath;
Its pale blossoms lay in sweet baby hands
That were folded forever in death.
Floated in on the Jessamine's breath;
Its pale blossoms lay in sweet baby hands
That were folded forever in death.
The same starry blooms lightly clung in the curls
That fell o'er my darling's dead brow,
And my tears are like rain on the jessamine leaves,
Whenever I look on them now.
That fell o'er my darling's dead brow,
And my tears are like rain on the jessamine leaves,
Whenever I look on them now.
Frail, beautiful messenger, fresh from the spot
So dear to my earlier years;
You have opened the door of a temple to-night
That gives you baptism in tears.
So dear to my earlier years;
You have opened the door of a temple to-night
That gives you baptism in tears.