I hide myself within my flower,
That fading from your Vase,
You, unsuspecting, feel for me —
Almost a loneliness.
-
-
I send you a decrepit flower
That nature sent to me
At parting — she was going south
And I designed to stay —
Her motive for the souvenir
If sentiment for me
Or circumstances prudential
Withheld invincibly — -
My Season's furthest Flower —
I tenderer commend
Because I found Her Kinsmanless,
A Grace without a Friend. -
Perhaps you'd like to buy a flower ?
But I could never sell.
If you would like to borrow
Until the daffodil
Unties her yellow bonnet
Beneath the village door,
Until the bees, from clover rows
Their hock and... -
The Flower must not blame the Bee —
That seeketh his felicity
Too often at her door —
But teach the Footman from Vevay —
Mistress is "not at home" — to say —
To people — any more! -
The good Will of a Flower
The Man who would possess
Must first present
Certificate
Of minted Holiness. -
The stem of a departed Flower
Has still a silent rank.
The Bearer from an Emerald Court
Of a Despatch of Pink. -
We should not mind so small a flower —
Except it quiet bring
Our little garden that we lost
Back to the Lawn again.
So spicy her Carnations nod —
So drunken, reel her Bees —
So silver steal a hundred flutes
From out a hundred trees —
That whoso sees this little flower... -
I hide myself within my flower,
That wearing on your breast,
You, unsuspecting, wear me too —
And angels know the rest.
I hide myself within my flower,
That, fading from your vase,
You, unsuspecting, feel for me
...