POPULAR TALES OF FLOWERS 
332 
castles in which he was a welcome guest, his favourite- 
flowers would be there to greet him with a silent welcome, 
as they did in the days of old when he went forth to listen 
to the song of the nightingale. 
And those Roses which, between the wars of the rival 
houses of York and Lancaster, caused blood enough to 
be spilt to make the white for ever red, would be found 
blowing as peacefully in a few old gardens as if the blast 
of war had never been heard in the world; bearing about 
them no trace of the strife and the struggle, which the 
grave has for ever hushed, nor a mark of the finger of 
Time upon the unsullied bloom of their buds. Nor could 
the eye that then beheld them tell that a flower had 
changed; for as they looked on the morning of battle, 
and on the evening of the same day, when the sun sank 
over a field crimson with blood, so do they look now; the 
keen eye of Time, who discerneth the decay of all things, 
seeth change in the flowers. 
The fond, warm heart of lovely woman ceaseth to beat 
— the liquid ruby no longer danceth through the streaked 
violets of her blue veins — the opening roses of her sweet 
and parted lips are closed for ever — the silver melody of 
her harp-toned voice is heard no more — the heaven of 
her eyes, the loveliest mirror in which the face of man 
was ever imaged, is darkened — ^and she, the most beautiful 
flower that was ever formed by the hand of Heaven, sleeps 
unconsciously below; while the flowers bloom and fade a 
thousand times above her grave, yet their beauty cheereth 
not, neither doth their perfume gladden, the angel of 
earth that slumbereth beneath. 
Over the blossoms above Time hath no power : but the 
sweet bud which lieth buried deep down, belongeth for 
a season unto him and Death, and to us can never again 
be restored. And what careth Time for other flowers? he 
carrieth away those which are twined around our hearts 
— he teareth the bleeding tendrils asunder : the vast cities 
and huge temples are not his only prey, for from the 
beginning he became a partner with Death, and they have 
ever since divided all but the flowers between them. 
