Voice of Flowers/Forgotten Flowers. To a Bride
FORGOTTEN FLOWERS.
TO A BRIDE. *[1]
We were left behind, but we would not stay,
We found your clue, and have kept the way,
For, sooth to say, the track was plain,
Of a bliss like yours in a world of pain.
How little we thought, when so richly we drest,
To go to your wedding, and vie with the best,
When we made our toilette with such elegant care,
That we might not disgrace an occasion so rare;
To be whirl'd in a coach at this horrible rate,
From county to county, and State to State!
Though we travel'd incog. yet we trembled with fear,
For the accents of strangers fell hoarse on our ear.
We could hear every word, as we quietly lay,
In the snug box of tin, where they stow'd us away,
And how would our friends at a distance have known,
If charm'd by our beauty, they'd made us their own?
All unus'd to the taverns, and roads, as we were,
Our baggage and bones were a terrible care,
But we've scap'd every peril, the journey is o'er,
And hooded and cloak'd, we are safe at your door.
We bring you a gift from your native skies,
The chrystal gem from Affection's eyes,
Which tenderly trickles, when dear ones part,
We have wrapp'd it close in the rose's heart;
We are charged with a mother's benison kiss;
Will you welcome us into your halls for this?
We are chilled with the cold of our wintry way,
Our message is done, we must fade away,
Let us die on your breast, and our prayer shall be,
An Eden's wreath for thy love and thee.
- ↑
* An elegant bouquet, sent as a nuptial present, arrived just as the bride had taken her departure for her new home in a neighboring State, and were sent after her, in the stage coach, and reached her without injury, in the depth of winter.