10 

 CALL OF THE FLOWERS. 



" Oh, come ye to our blossoming — 



To our holy festival — 

 We have felt the dew and the rain of Spring, 

 And we are ready for the opening ; 



Come men and maidens, come all. 



We have blossoms of every hue and name, 



And buds for opening youth; 

 Garlands for honour, and wreaths for fame, 

 And fadeless flowers for the purest flame. 



Of the heart s enduring truth. 



Flowers for the mourner, flowers for the bride, 



Or to garnish the hall of death ; 

 And to strew the biers of them who died. 

 In youth, in age,"in manhood's pride, 



For each and for all a wreath. 



Maiden, come then with thy sunny glance, 



And cull a wreath for thy hair, 

 ; Twill serve thy cheek's bright hue to enhance, 

 As thou giidest on in thy merry dance, 



And the last thou e'er might'st wear. 



And come thou in thy young love's light, 



A bridal wreath to twine ; 

 Take roses and myrtle, the fresh and the bright, 

 And mingle the jasmine, — for early blight 



Is gathering on all that's thine. 



Childhood, come thou in thy merriest hour, 



k.3lect from the woodland and heath: 

 Take the iris and daisy, and May lily flower, 

 The brightest, the fairest, in Nature's wild bower. 

 And as pure as thine own its breath. 



And age, come thou with silvered head, 



Upon this our festal day ; 

 Behold us again in the white and red, 

 The same bright tint we merrily spread, 



In thy childhood's gladsome way. 



We call — but alas, we call in vain ; 



None notice this solemn truth ; 

 We blossom, we blossom, but never again, 

 For that man, in his three score years and ten. 



Or that bride, or that maiden, or youth." 



