FABLES OF FLORA 
111 
THE AMARANTH. 
• Immortal Amaranth ! a flower which once 
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life 
Began to bloom ; but soon, for man’s offence, 
To Heaven removed, where first it grew; there grows 
And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life; 
And where the river of bliss, thro’ midst of Heaven, 
Bolls o’er Elysian flowers her amber streams; 
With these, that never fade, the Spirit’s elect 
Bind their resplendent locks, inwreathed with beams.’ 
Paradise Lost. 
One variety of tlie Amaranth is called 4 Love- 
lies-bleeding; ’ as in Campbell’s poem of 4 O’Con¬ 
nor’s Child.’ 
4 A hero’s bride I this desert bower, 
It ill befits thy gentle breeding; 
And wherefore dost thou love this flower 
To call — “ My love lies bleeding"t 
This purple flower my tears have nursed; 
A hero’s blood supplied its bloom; 
I love it, for It was the first 
That grew on Connocht-Moran's tomb.’ 
Cowper says, 
4 The only Amaranthine flower on earth, is virtue.' 
We have somewhere read, that Hope rides in 
a 4 bark of Aniaranths.’ 
