

186 FLORAL POESY. 
CORNFLOWER. 
(Delicacy.) 
‘¢ Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell 
If my lover loves me, and loves me well.” 
ANONYMOUS, 
HE classic name of the bright blue Cornflower is 
Cyanus ; and it was so named after a worshiper 
of Flora, who made garlands for public festivities out 
of various sorts of wild flowers, and who lingered from 
morn till eve amid the corn, weaving the blossoms that 
she had collected. Its petals are used for divination, 
as the thistle-down is. 
This flower, although now so common in our corn- 
fields, is thought not to be indigenous, but to have 
been brought from the East among some imported 
grain. 
Its deep blue hue is so deep that it almost approaches 
a purple, and as such the poet addresses it : 
‘‘ There is a flower, a purple flower, 
Sown by the wind, nursed by the shower, 
O’er which Love breathed a powerful spell, 
The truth of whispering hope to tell. 
Now, gentle flower, I pray thee tell 
If my lover loves me, and loves me well : 
So may the fall of the morning dew 
Keep the sun from fading thy tender blue.” 

