Poems (Eckley)/Spirit Flowers, To F. A. E.

by Sophia May Eckley

SPIRIT FLOWERS. TO F. A. E.

BUNCH of flowers was given to me,
With scent of the pine and breath of the sea,
They came through the air on a cloud to me.

Their roots had never been wedded to mould,
Their petals were gilt with the sunset gold,
I seemed to grasp them, yet could not hold.

For they grew not on earth; nor hill, nor lea
Had nursed these flowers given to me,
With scent of the pine and breath of the sea.

But at last they floated in mist away,
Though they caught their stems on the crown of day,
Who was dying in state on a couch of grey.

But the riband that tied these flow'rs so dear,
I tried to catch and keep it to wear,
As a fillet to bind my wayward hair.

O would ye smell these flowers so fair,
That were wafted to me on the sunset air,
These spirit flowers from gardens of air?

Then follow in spirit,—walk with me
By the murmuring tide of the distant sea,
And ye'll breathe these flowers given to me,
With scent of the pine and breath of the sea,
By the one I love, who is far from me.