The language of flowers : $b The floral offering ; a token of affection and esteem ; comprising the language and poetry of flowersDumont, Henrietta
General
The language of flowers : $b The floral offering ; a token of affection and esteem ; comprising the language and poetry of flowers
Dumont, Henrietta
Flower language; Flowers in literature
The Sunflower has been thus named from the resemblance which its broad
golden disk and rays bear to the sun. The first Spaniards who arrived in
Peru were amazed at the profuse display of gold among the people, but
they were still more astonished when, in May, they beheld whole fields
covered with these flowers, which they concluded, at first sight, must
be of the same precious metal. From this circumstance, and the
observation that gold, however abundant, cannot render a person truly
rich, the Sunflower has been made the emblem of false wealth. Many of
the English poets have adopted the notion that this flower ever turns
its face to the sun. Thomson, Moore, Darwin, and Barton make a very fine
use of the idea. But it is not a fact. Those flowers which face the east
at the opening of day, never turn to the west at the close of it.
* * * * *
Searcher of gold, whose days and nights
All waste away in anxious care,
Estranged from all of life’s delights,
Unlearned in all that is most fair--
Who sailest not with easy glide,
But delvest in the depths of tide,
And strugglest in the foam;
O! come and view this land of graves,
Death’s northern sea of frozen waves,
And mark thee out thy home.
_J. O. Rockwell._
* * * * *
Think’st thou the man whose mansions hold
The worldling’s pride, the miser’s gold,
Obtains a richer prize
Than he who in his cot, at rest,
Finds heavenly peace a willing guest,
And bears the earnest in his breast
Of treasure in the skies?
_Mrs. Sigourney._
* * * * *
Is all that heart requires, accomplished when
A heap of wealth is gathered at our door?
How thirsts the yearning soul for something more,
Some good that lies beyond its keenest ken!
_MacKellar._
* * * * *
Can gold calm passion, or make reason shine?
Can we dig peace, or wisdom, from the mine?
Wisdom to gold prefer: for ’tis much less
To make our fortune, than our happiness.
_Young._
* * * * *
It’s no in titles nor in rank;
It’s no in wealth like Lon’on bank,
To purchase peace and rest;
It’s no in making muckle mair:
It’s no in books: it’s no in lear,
To make us truly blest:
If happiness hae not her seat
And centre in the breast,
We may be wise, or rich, or great,
But never can be blest.
_Burns._
HELIOTROPE.... _Devoted Affection_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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