3G 
LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS. 
WEEPING WILLOW. 
MOURNING. 
The Weeping Willow is a native of the East, 
where it was not only planted near the water, 
hut also near the graves of the dead, over which 
its branches drooped as in token of mourning 
and affliction, producing an appropriate and pic¬ 
turesque effect. It is called by Linneus the "W il- 
low of Babylon ( Salix Babylonica ), in allusion to 
that affecting passage in the 137th Psalm, where 
the captive children of Israel are represented as 
hanging their harps upon the Willows, and sit¬ 
ting down beside the waters of Babylon to weep 
their separation from their beloved country. 
Silent their harps—each cord unstrung, 
On pendent Willow-branches hung. 
Booker. 
On the Willow thy harp is suspended— 
O Salem ! its sound should be free : 
And the hour when thy glories were ended 
But left me that token of thee; 
And ne’er shall its soft notes he blended 
With the voice of the spoiler by me. 
Byron. 
