TO THE PANSIES GROWING ON THE GRAVE OF A. S. D.
Reading edition
Beautiful pansies, ye must know Your sacred mission here, For how could otherwise ye grow So sweet and full of cheer? Your watchful love we can't o'errate, As, lingering here in tears, Fond memory brings the precious weight Of friendship's golden years. Ye are the symbols, pure and sweet, Of heartsease and of life, Through which our thought may dare retreat From pain and death so rife, To realms of light and peace above, From earth's alloy set free, Wherein abide immortal love And deathless ministry. But still, while we your comfort seek, Our hearts will wildly yearn To hear once more the loved one speak, Once more the form discern.
At Woodlawn Cemetery, May, 1886.