POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
193 
POPPY. 
Pap aver, rhceas .... Class 13 ; Order 1. 
Of this plant opium is made. Flowers scarlet, purple, 
crimson, and white. 
EYANESCENT PLEASURE.—CONSOLATION.—FANTAS¬ 
TIC EXTRAVAGANCE.—OBLIVION. 
Lf.t the deep waters of oblivion roll 
O’er all that irritates or grieves thy soul; 
Let time its drapery of ivy throw 
O’er every painful monument of woe; 
And in forgetfulness thy sorrows lose, 
Since this is all the refuge thou canst choose, 
Wherein to hide thy heart from memory’s pangs, 
Or flee the cloud that o’er thy pathway hangs. 
The Poppy is used as the floral sign of conso¬ 
lation ; chiefly, it is supposed, because, as the 
Greek mythologists tell us, it was created by 
Ceres whilst in search of her daughter Proser¬ 
pine, as a soother of her grief. 
The well-known somniferous qualities of the 
poppy are adduced as another reason why it 
should be deemed symbolic of consolation and 
of oblivion. That it, the producer of Nature’s 
sweet restorer, balmy sleep, should be chosen 
as the emblem of the alleviation of our trou¬ 
bles, does indeed appear just. Shakspeare, 
