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SSS ee tre i 



POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
ORIGIN OF THE SNOW-DROP. 
No fading flowers in Eden grew, 
Nor autumn’s withering spread, 
Among the trees, a browner hue, 
To show the leaves were dead ; 
But through the groves and shady dells, 
Waving their bright immortal bells, 
Were amaranths and asphodels, 
Undying in a place that knew 
A golden age the whole year through. 
But when the angels’ fiery bands, 
Guarding the eastern gate, 
Told of a broken law’s commands, 
And agonies that came too late ;— 
With ‘longing, lingering” wish to stay, 
And may a fond but vain delay, 
That could not while her grief away, 
Eve wandered aimless o’er a world, 
On which the wrath of God was hurled. 
Then came the spring’s capricious smile, 
And summer sunlight warmed the air, 
And autumn’s riches served awhile 
To hide the curse that lingered there ; 

