GENTIANA FRITTILLARIA.A Blessing 
“I may not break the spell 
Thy beauty wove around me, 
Till time shall loose the silver cord 
That long to earth hath bound me. 
I see thee smile on loftier ones, 
And mark the proud caress thee; 
Yet when my lips would ope to curse, 
They never fail to bless thee. 
“One memory round me everywhere, 
One task in silence set me— 
The ever, ever thinking on, 
And striving to forget thee. 
And though for age the goading thought 
To madness thus oppress me, 
I may not curse—I cannot hate— 
My heart still whispers ‘bless thee!’ ” 
M. E. H. 
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