Page:Flowers of Loveliness.pdf/22



" ' it grow beneath my hand,    I see it day by day, I measure on its purple wand     How long he is away.

" 'The seed was sleeping in the earth,    The snow was on the ground, And Christmas gathered in its mirth     The friends now scattered round.

" 'It was the time of thy farewell,    Cold, wintry, dead—and now The violets are in the dell,     The May upon the bough.

" 'We sowed its seed when winds were chill,    The plant now grown so fair; We placed it on the window-sill,     To catch the sun and air!

" 'You said you would return again    Before it was in bloom— Alas! it sheds its light in vain     Around our altered room.

" 'My heart is sick with hope deferred,    Days, weeks pass slowly o’er— Alas! one voice is still unheard,     One step returns no more!