BLOSSOM.
Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.—Isaiah, v. 24.
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly.—Isaiah, xxxv. 1, 2.
Fair pledges of a fruitful tree,
Why do you fall so fast?
Your date is not so past
But you may stay yet here awhile,
To blush and gently smile,
And go at last.
What! were ye born to be
An hour and half’s delight
And so to bid good-night?
’Twas pity nature brought ye forth
Merely to show your worth,
And lose you quite.
But you are lovely leaves, where we
May read how soon things have
Their end, though ne’er so brave,
And after they have shown their pride
Like you awhile, they glide
Into the grave.
Herrick.
Our life hath many a wintry scene,
Deciduous are our sweetest joys;
And blossoms that have loveliest been,
Some withering demon oft destroys.
But there are germs that inly lie,
Waiting the touch of some kind hand,
Germs that destruction’s power defy,
And soon in bloom of hope expand.
W. J. Brock.
Lo, the arid desert
Shall blossom as the rose,
Wheresoe’er the messenger
Of the Saviour goes.
Egone.