218 
FLORAL EMBLEMS. 
MY BEST DAYS ARE PAST. 
Colchicum, or Meadow-saffron. 
Colchicum Autumnale. 
“ Or temper’d every baleful juice 
Which poisonous colchian glebes produce.” 
In floral language this autumnal flower 
expresses “ my best days are past/' for, far 
from inspiring us, like the crocus, with joy 
and hope, it appears to announce to all nature 
the loss of the fine days, and the approach 
of a cheerless atmosphere. 
“ Catch, then, O ! catch the transient hour. 
Improve each moment as it flies : 
Life’s a short summer, man a flower. 
He dies—alas ! how soon he dies !” 
Johnson. 
