Classic Poem

Brilliant asters purple and gold,
Milk-white lilies parded and pale,
With their great white petals rolled
Fold on fold like a nun's white veil.

Sprays of geranium, leaf and flower,
Rose-geranium in its bloom:
No strong white lily can overpower
The rose-geranium's faint perfume.

In the centre a flash of flame,
Slender blood-red starry slips,
With their tender tropical name,
Only made for tropical lips.

Then a girdle of brown and gold,
Maple-leaves in their splendid death,
Starred and spotted with golden mould,
And odorous of their dying breath.

This was the gift that into my hand
Dropped at parting yesterday;
And the giver said, " Will you understand
What I have said in my bouquet? "

O, your asters purple and gold,
I read their mystical meaning well:
They symbol the world with their purple and gold,
The gay, gay world with its glittering spell!

And the lilies of peace are set beside
The royal purples of pomp and power;
The lilies of peace and the purple of pride;
Geranium-blooms for love in its flower.

But the fiery human heart burns on,
Like the starry slips with their tropical name;
The fiery heart burns on and on,
A feverish, flickering flame.

And, girdling all these pleasures and pains,
These pleasures and passions, hopes and fears,
The solemn splendor of Death remains,
To quench Life's laughter and tears.