be ee tet 


THE FRIENDSHIP FLOWER. 323 
Then be it so, beloved maid, 
But let me fix thy palace dome; 
Go, reign unrivalled in the shade 
Of a protecting, happy home. 


The Friendship Flower, 
Milnes. 
\ HEN first the Friendship Flower is planted 
Within the garden of your soul, 
Little of care or thought is wanted 
To guard its beauty fresh and whole; 
But when the full impassioned age 
Has well revealed the magic bloom, 
A wise and holy tutelage 
Alone avoids the open tomb. 
It is not absence you should dread,— 
For absence is the very air 
In which, if sound at root, the head 
Shall wave most wonderful and fair: 
With sympathies of joy and sorrow 
Fed, as with morn and even dews, 
Ideal coloring it may borrow 
Richer than ever earthly hues. 



