Flowers were the couch,
Pansies and violets, and asphodels,
And hyacinths, earth’s freshest, softest lap.
—JOHN MILTON.
Flowers, of such as keep
Their fragrant tissues and their heavenly hues
Fresh-bathed forever in eternal dews—
The violet with her low-drooped eye,
For learned modesty.
—SIDNEY LANIER.