THE POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
151 
WHITE ROSES. 
BY SARAH LOUISA P. SMITH. 
They were gather’d for a bridal! 
I knew it by their hue : 
Fair as the summer moonlight 
Upon the sleeping dew. 
From their fair and fairy sisters 
They were borne, without a sigh, 
For one remember’d evening 
To blossom and to die. 
They were gather’d for a bridal! 
And fasten’d in a wreath; 
But purer were the roses 
Than the heart that lay beneath; 
Yet the beaming eye was lovely, 
And the coral lip was fair, 
And the gazer look’d and ask’d not 
For the secret hidden there. 
They were gather’d for a bridal' 
Where a thousand torches glisten'd, 
When the holy words were spoken, 
And the false and faithless listen’d 
And answered to the vow 
Which another heart had taken, 
Yet he was present then— 
The once loved, the forsaken. 
