FLORA'S INTERPRETER. 



WOOD SORREL. Class W. Order 5. Chiefly found in tho 



^ / East, though a few species are natives of 



America. The variety cultivated for iu 



beauty is from China. Flowers yellow, 



white, etc., ' pencilled ' with crimson. 



MATERNAL TENDERNESS. 



Sorrel, that hangs her cups, 

 Ere their frail form and streaky veins decay, 

 (3'er her pale verdure, till parental care 

 Inclines the shortening stems, and to the shade 

 Of closing leaves her infant race withdraws. 



Gitbornt. 



SENTJMEWT. 



It hath passed, my daughter! fare thee welll 



Pledged is the faith, inscribed the vow; 

 Yet let these gushing tear-drops speak 



Of all thy mother's anguish now; 

 And when, on distant stranger shores, 



Love beams from brighter eyes than mine, 

 When other hands thy tresses weave, 



And other lips are pressed to thine, 



O, then remember her who grieves, 



With parent-fondness, for her child ; 

 Whose lonely path, of thee bereft, 



Is like some desert lone and wild, 

 Where erst a simple floweret grew, 



Where erst one timid wild bird sung; 

 Now lonely, dark, and desolate, 



No bird nor flower its shades among. 



When care shall dim thy sunny eye, 



And one by one the ties are broken 

 That bind thee to the earth, this kiss 



Will linger yet thy mother's token ; 

 T will speak her changeless love for thee, 



Speak what she strives hi vain to tell, 

 The yearnings of a parent's heart; 



My darling child, farewell! farewell! 



American Common-Place Book of Poetry. 



