Flowers for Zöe

A Life unfolding in the spheres
     From all our mortal cares apart,
May little heed the fleeting years
     That leave no shadows in her heart;
But we who pass from frost to flower,
     From flower to frost, may fondly greet
The advent of this cherished hour;
     That wakes a memory ever sweet;—

A Memory, & a Name to live,
     A gracious presence young & blithe,
Smiles, innocence, alone can give,
     And limbs elastic, free & lithe.
We mark this day, elect, on earth, 
     With living blooms & loving thought,
Remembering Zoe’s mortal birth
     In tokens the rich glebe hath brought.

Returning seasons, four times four
     Their blooms renewed to crown thee, dear,
Since thou hast walked this emerald shore
     Unseen by us who linger near.
Full many a moon may rise and set
     But long as August flowers shall wave
Thy lovers here will ne’er forget
     To strew them on thy grassy grave.

Our lowly lot forgot not thou
     In all the ineffable delights
Of that strange world around thee now,
     Replete with unimagined sights;
I fain would guess what jays are given
     By new, immortal fellowships,
What growing wisdom makes thy heaven,
     In music uttered on thy lips;

And why the heart we love so well,
     The nimble brain so quick erewhile,
Are dumb, as if forbidden to tell
     The secrets of that Golden Isle.
But keep them, ‘tis not long to wait!
     The Warden Angel hovers near
Who led thee to the silent Gate
     That hides thee from thy kindred here.

Mean while we pluck the votive flowers
     And weave it in the votive lay,
And wait the inevitable hour
     Or swift or slow as come it may:
And when our dust sleeps low as thine
     And none are left to deck thy tomb
Our loves in this memorial line
     Shall guard thy heart’s perennial bloom!