Bessie's Gift

Snowdrops & Violets – Sweetness & Purity —
     Symbols of Her by whose hand they are given;
Frail as they seem they can bear to futurity
     Wafts of heart-fragrance like odors of Heaven.

Mixed with their breath is the love of the Giver,
     Under each flower, as its beautiful soul
These for a moment, but this is forever,
     Wreathing my brow like a pale aureole.

Thankful I cherish the Gift & the Meaning;
     Brighter than gold in the boon they have brought;
After Life’s harvest how sweet is the gleaming—
     Flowers blooming double – the form & the thought.

Snowdrops & Violets lead the procession;
     Breathe o’er my Autumn the sweetness of May;
Girlhood & Beauty, their human expression
     Wave back the years to this coronal day.

Fifty! How steeply they loomed in the Morning!
     Now, under foot in the westering day,
Shrunk to a plain, with its only adorning
     Blossom- down drifting away & away!

White in the head of the ripe dandelion,
     White, but its future is guarded & sure;
Years cannot tarnish the Sword of Orian [sic],
     Love & the soul are more grandly secure!

Snowdrops & Violets mimicking Bessie’s
     White of the flesh & the clear eye’s blue,
Under your banner my old heart blesses
     Her who has made you her heralds true!