University of Virginia Library


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FADED FLOWERS.

'T is but two faded flowers, that have lost both hue and scent,—
A red geranium-blossom, with its loveliness all spent,
And a purple modest violet, that bloomed beneath the sky,
But to show forth all its beauty, to wither and to die.
More dear to me than life itself are these poor faded flowers,
And oft have they consoled me in my sad and gloomy hours;
Like them, I, too, have faded, since her spirit passed away,
And my weary heart, though broken, must linger day by day.
You ask me when she gave them? The geranium when, above,

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The moon shone bright with glory, and I whispered her my love;
And the violet so faded, that my tears so often lave,
After one short year of absence, I plucked from off her grave.
September, 1863.