POETRY OP FLOWERS. 
71 
CORNFLOWER. 
DELICACY. 
Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell, 
If my lover loves me, and loves me well.” 
Anonymous. 
The classic cognomen of the bright blue 
Cornflower is Cyanus, and it was so named after 
a fair young devotee of Flora, who made gar¬ 
lands for public festivities out of various sorts 
of wild flowers, and w r ho lingered lovingly from 
morn till eve amid the corn, weaving into flow¬ 
ery coronals the blossoms that she had collected, 
accompanying her pleasant labor by singing the 
songs of her beloved fatherland. 
This flower, although now so common in our 
wheat fields, is thought not to be indigenous, 
but to have been brought from the East amongst 
some imported grain. 
Its deep blue hue is so deep that it almost 
approaches a purple, and as such the poet 
addresses it: 
“ There is a flower, a purple flower 
Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower, 
O’er which Love breathed a powerful spell, 
The truth of whispering hope to tell. 
Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell, 
If my lover loves me, and loves me well: 
So may the fall of the morning dew 
Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue.” 
