With curly crest and grand air that swept the heart from you!
And why he paused at my side is more than I can know—
Shyest of the small girls who all adored him so—
I said it with my prayer-times: I walked with head held high:
“Carnations are your flower!” he said as he strode by.
Carnations and my first love! The years are passed a score,
And I recall his first name, and scarce an eyelash more....
And those were all the love-words that either of us said—
Perhaps he may be married—perhaps he may be dead.
And yet, ... to smell carnations, their spicy, heavy sweet,