Poems (Follen)/To the Night-blooming Cereus

by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen

TO THE NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS.^[1]

Now departs day's garish light,
 Beauteous flower! lift thy head,
Rise upon the brow of night,
 And thy transient lustre shed.

Night has dropped her dusky veil;
 All vain thoughts be distant far.
While with silent joy we hail
 Flora's radiant evening star.

See! to life her beauties start:
 Hail! thou lovely, matchless flower;
Much thou sayest to the heart,
 In thy fleeting, solemn hour.

Ere we have our homage paid,
 Thou wilt bow thy head and die;
Thus our sweetest pleasures fade,
 Thus our brightest blessings fly.

Sorrow's rugged stem, like thine,
 Bears a flower thus purely bright;
Thus, when sunny hours decline,
 Friendship sheds her cheering light:

And Religion, heavenly flower,
 Joy of never-fading worth,
Like thee, in the darkest hour
 Puts her peerless glories forth.

Then thy beauties are surpassed,
 Splendid flower, that bloom'st to die;
Friendship and religion last,
 When the morning dawns on high.

Emblem just of earthly bliss,
 Wondrous stranger, fare thee well!
What a brilliant dream it is,
 To the mournful heart you tell.

1. It is well known, that this flower, of unrivalled beauty, blooms only in the night, and fades as the daylight appears.