FLORA’S LEXICON.
33
ALM. Melissa. Class 14, Didynamia. Order: Gynospermia. The scientific name of this plant is Melissa, which is synonymous with the Greek word for bee, being derived from μελι, honey, which is sought for in these flowers with avidity, “The recent plant has the agreeable odour of lemons.” “It was formerly prized as a corroborant in hypochondriacal and nervous affections.”’ It is on account of the soothing qualities of the waters distilled from this plant that it has been made the emblem of sympathy.
SYMPATHY.
Is there who mocks at sacred Sympathy,
And owns a bosom from her dictates free?
Who never long’d to press unto his heart,
At the first glance, a friend, and never part?
Who the soft influence of a smile denies,
And the more melting power of tearful eyes?
Who an unconscious look, a word, a sigh,
Boasts his unhallow’d bosom can defy?
O never let him deem his soul was made
For holy hopes, and joys that never fade,
For pure delights, that love can only know,
And all the ties that cheer our hearts below:
The tender names of husband, brother, friend,
Ne’er to his breast their blissful sounds shall lend,
But cheerless, joyless, shall he live and die,
Nor claim in life a smile, in death a sigh!
And owns a bosom from her dictates free?
Who never long’d to press unto his heart,
At the first glance, a friend, and never part?
Who the soft influence of a smile denies,
And the more melting power of tearful eyes?
Who an unconscious look, a word, a sigh,
Boasts his unhallow’d bosom can defy?
O never let him deem his soul was made
For holy hopes, and joys that never fade,
For pure delights, that love can only know,
And all the ties that cheer our hearts below:
The tender names of husband, brother, friend,
Ne’er to his breast their blissful sounds shall lend,
But cheerless, joyless, shall he live and die,
Nor claim in life a smile, in death a sigh!
M. A. J.
For love is a celestial harmony
Of likely hearts composed of stars concent,
Which join together in sweet sympathy,
To work each others’ joy and true content.
Of likely hearts composed of stars concent,
Which join together in sweet sympathy,
To work each others’ joy and true content.
Spenser
