LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 28 



When any asked the cause, she smiled, and said 

 They were her sisters, and would come and watch 

 Her grave when she was dead. She never spoke 

 Of her deceased father, mother, home, 

 Or child, or heaven, or hell, or God, but still 

 In lonely places walked, and ever gazed 

 Upon the withered stalks, and talked to them ; 

 Till wasted to the shadow of her youth, 

 With woe too wide to see beyond, she died/' 



POLLOK. 



These withered stalks were to her as beautiful 

 and full of perfume as when they were first 

 plucked, and she regarded them as the friends 

 and companions of her youth, talking to them, 

 and receiving answers words of love and 

 affection. We are here reminded of poor 

 Ophelia, who in her madness made " fantastic 

 garlands" 



"Of crow flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples/' 

 Of which it has been observed that they are 

 all emblematic flowers, the first signifying, Fair 

 Maid; the second, stung to the quick; the 

 third, her virgin bloom ; the fourth, under the 

 cold hand of death; and the whole being wild 

 flowers, might denote the bewildered state of 

 her faculties. 



