Floral Life
"Lord, what is life? 'Tis like a flower
That blossoms, and is gone!
We see it flourish for an hour,
With all its beauty on;
But death comes, like a wintry day,
And cuts the pretty flower away."
THE FLOWERING SEASONS.
"Say, what impels, amid surrounding snow
Congealed, the CROCUS' flowery bud to glow?
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Say, what retards, amid the summer blaze,
The autumnal bud, till pale declining days?
"The God of seasons, whose pervading power
Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower;
He bids each flower His quickening word obey,
Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay."
H. KIRKE WHITE.
As it will be impossible in a small volume to give instructions in all
Flowers, I shall endeavour to select such as will produce a pleasing
contrast of form and colour; at the same time, including flowers of
every season, commencing with Spring--and who does not hail the early
Flowers with delight? After a long and severe winter, the appearance of
the golden crocus and the modest snowdrop, peeping from the earth,
convey to the mind a glow of unspeakable pleasure.
"Then wherefore had they birth?
To minister delight to man--
To beautify the earth."