 | [Poems by Osgood in] The poetry of flowers and Flowers of Poetry |  |
185
PEERLESS AND PROUD.
MAGNOLIA.
186
THE SOUTHERNER TO A YANKEE.
What! write a burning billetdoux
On common colored paper,
And melt the wax to seal it, too,
Within a tallow taper!
On common colored paper,
And melt the wax to seal it, too,
Within a tallow taper!
Not thus we woo our Georgian girls,
They'd scorn so poor a letter;
They'd twist with it their silken curls
And bid us write a better.
They'd scorn so poor a letter;
They'd twist with it their silken curls
And bid us write a better.
We seek a sweeter, purer leaf,
To bear our passion to them;
Our vows are beautiful as brief;—
I'll tell you how we woo them.
To bear our passion to them;
Our vows are beautiful as brief;—
I'll tell you how we woo them.
Deep in our southern forest-glooms,
Our tempests proudly braving,
The pure magnolia richly blooms,
Its peerless blossoms waving.
Our tempests proudly braving,
The pure magnolia richly blooms,
Its peerless blossoms waving.
187
We pluck the leaf of perfumed snow,
We trace love-verses on it,
And as the quick thoughts breathe and glow,
The flower makes sweet the sonnet!
We trace love-verses on it,
And as the quick thoughts breathe and glow,
The flower makes sweet the sonnet!
We tell the maid it mocks, in hue,
Her fair and virgin forehead;
We say her lips' delicious dew
The blossom's balm has borrowed.
Her fair and virgin forehead;
We say her lips' delicious dew
The blossom's balm has borrowed.
Our sweet appeal, in secret bower,
We bid her con apart,
And trace it on as fair a flower,
Her own unsullied heart.
We bid her con apart,
And trace it on as fair a flower,
Her own unsullied heart.
'T is writ with plumes from Cupid's wing—
With passion's kiss we seal it,
Then free to Zephyr's care we fling
Our light and blooming billet!
With passion's kiss we seal it,
Then free to Zephyr's care we fling
Our light and blooming billet!
Well guarded from blockade and breach,
Must be that heart unsleeping,
Such fragrant vows would fail to reach,
Or fail, when reached, in keeping!
Must be that heart unsleeping,
Such fragrant vows would fail to reach,
Or fail, when reached, in keeping!
| [Poems by Osgood in] The poetry of flowers and Flowers of Poetry | |