Flower! Flower, why repine?
God knows each creature's place;
He hides within me when I shine,
And your leaves hide His face.
And you are near as I to Him,
And you reveal as much
Of that eternal soundless hymn
Man's words may never touch.
God sings to man through all my rays
That wreathe the brow of night,
And walks with me thro' all my ways —
The everlasting light.
Flower! Flower, why repine?
He chose on lowly earth,
And not in heaven where I shine,
His Bethlehem and birth.
Flower! Flower, I see Him pass
Each hour of night and day,
Down to an altar and a Mass
Go thou! and fade away.
Fade away upon His shrine!
Thy light is brighter far
Than all the light wherewith I shine
In heaven, as a star.
Death of the Flower
I love my mother, the wildwood,
I sleep upon her breast;
A day or two of childhood,
And then I sink to rest.
I had once a lovely sister —
She was cradled by my side;
But one Summer day I missed her —
She had gone to deck a bride.
And I had another sister,
With cheeks all bright with bloom;
And another morn I missed her —
She had gone to wreathe a tomb.