76 
POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
What came with the Roses ? Dear thoughts of delight, 
That feared not extinction, that dreamt not of blight; 
And the trust that had wither’d, the joy that was lost ) 
Forth springing again, hut again to be crost. 
What came with the Roses ? The promise of truth; 
And the love that haunts ever the spirit of youth, 
Ere the heart learns to school its wild throbs of delight, 
Ere the stormsof the w r orld pour their withering blight. 
What went with the Roses ? Hope chilled to despair, 
And all our bright visions like fabrics in air. 
We felt they were lovely; we knew they must go, 
Yet that doth not weaken one pulse of our woe. 
What went with the Roses ? The love of long years 
That kindled in sunshine, has withered in tears ; 
And the joy that we deemed in a moment to clasp, 
Hath fled like a shade and eluded our grasp. 
What went with the Roses ? The bark o’er the sea, 
With its treasure of loved ones — the leaf from the tree, 
The earliest reft — in our pathway is shed, 
And the birds of the spring-time are silent or fled. 
The breeze took the Roses, nor took them alone, 
There are fair ones and loved ones as suddenly gone, 
And the last of your leaves have been shed o’er the 
bier, 
Where their scent cannot charm, their beauty not 
cheer. 
