158 FUNERAL FLOWER B. 
LINES. 1 
BY M. A. BROWNE. , 
"Do not pluck the flower?, they are sacred to the dead.” i 
An inscription, similar to the foregoing, is seen in many \ 
parts of the Roman Catholic Burial Ground, Botanic 
Gardens, Cork, j 
Oh ! spare the flowers, the fair young flowers, ! 
The free glad gift the summer brings ; 
Bright children of the sun and showers. 
Here do they rise, earth’s offerings. 
Rich be the dew upon you shed. 
Green be the bough that o’er ygu weaves. 
Weariless watchers by the dead. 
Unblenching dwellers ’midst the graves ! 
Oh ! spare the flowers ! their sweet perfume. 
Upon the wandering zephyr cast. 
And lingering o’er the lowly tomb, 
Is like the memory of the past 
