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
Forget thee, love?--no, not while heaven
Spans its starred vault across the sky;
Oh, may I never be forgiven,
If e’er I cause that heart a sigh!
Sooner shall the Forget-me-not
Shun the fringed brook by which it grows,
And pine for some sequestered spot,
Where not a silver ripple flows.
By the blue heaven that bends above me,
Dearly and fondly do I love thee!
They fabled not in days of old
That Love neglected soon will perish,--
Throughout all time the truth doth hold
That what we love we ever cherish,
For when the Sun neglects the Flower,
And the sweet pearly dews forsake it,
It hangs its head, and from that hour,
Prays only unto Death to take it.
So may I droop, by all above me,
If once this heart doth cease to love thee!
The turtle-dove that’s lost its mate,
Hides in some gloomy greenwood shade,
And there alone mourns o’er its fate,
With plumes for ever disarrayed:
Alone! alone! it there sits cooing:--
Deem’st thou, my love, what it doth seek?
’Tis Death the mournful bird is wooing,
In murmurs through its plaintive beak.
So will I mourn, by all above me,
If in this world I cease to love thee!
_Miller._
ROSEMARY.... _Remembrance_.
The Rosemary is so often mentioned by our early writers, both in prose,
poetry, and our oldest dramas, that a long article, possessing great
interest to such as love old-fashioned things, might be written upon it.
The Rosemary was used both at their feasts and their funerals,--the
christening-cup was stirred with it, and it was worn at their marriage
ceremonies. Shakspeare has chosen it for the emblem of Remembrance, and
who would attempt to change the meaning of a flower which his genius has
hallowed, or disturb a leaf over which he has breathed his holy
“superstition?”--in memory of him we use the latter word in all
reverence. A few years ago it was customary, in many parts of England,
to plant slips of Rosemary over the dead; nor has the practice yet
fallen altogether into disuse--rural cemeteries will revive these
ancient customs. Shakspeare chose the Rosemary as the emblem of
affectionate remembrance, for its flowering in winter,--a very poetic
and touching allusion. The sweet maniac, Ophelia, says,
There’s Rosemary, “That for remembrance,
I pray you love, remember.”
I loved thee, and must love thee still,
In memory of the past
Amid whate’er of earthly ill
My future lot is cast!
E’er in my boyhood’s sunny prime,
When brightly from the urn of Time
Life’s golden moments fell,
Thou wert a peri to my eyes,
Sent from Love’s own sweet paradise,
In my young heart to dwell.
_New York Mirror._
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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