THE CARDINAL FLOWER.
Reading edition
Wrapped in his crimson gown and cowl, Beside her slender form he stood; There by the grassy brook they strayed, And sun-rise thrush and moonlight owl Knew that she listened while he wooed. So blue her eyes, so golden fell The sunny hair about her face; She stepped with delicate sweet pride Along the grasses, close beside The brook’s cool lily-shadowed place. “It was a shame that they should go Thus side by side, at last to part,” Earth said: “Mine all this color now, Her soft blue eyes, gold hair and brow, The red blood in his ardent heart.” Men say, “They died.” They passed away; I am not sure what trail they took. But where the grasses bend and sway, Red Cardinal flower burns its way— Forget-me-nots grow in the brook.