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Title: To A Withered Flower!
Author: John Castillo [
More Titles by Castillo]
Withering Flower, upbraid me not!
Why cast on me that look so pale?
Why dost thou my attention court,
To listen to thy mournful tale?
Why bow thy head? Why bend thy neck?
Why look so drooping, wan, and cold?
To give my careless thoughts a check,—
And tell me I am getting old!
Fading Flower, upbraid me not!
Still nodding with the gentle breeze.
Or dost thou think I have forgot,
I too am wasting by degrees?
For scarce can I believe my sight,
Who lately saw thee fresh and gay;
That beauty could so early blight,
Or such fresh colours fade away!
Drooping Flower, upbraid me not!
But turn to Sol’s enlivening ray.
I in some climate cold or hot,
Must also sicken and decay!
Nay, why dost thou shake off thy leaf,
And show thy heart so fair and clean?
But mine to smite with inward grief,—
To feel the many plagues within.
Weeping Flower, upbraid me still!
For half the conquest thou hast gain’d.
Yes! listen to thy tale I will,
Until its meaning be explain’d.
Fair emblem thou of human life;
In thee its changing tints are seen;
Our visit here, so frail and brief,
Is painted in those tints of thine!
When in thy bud so rich and gay,
Thou did’st escape the spoiler’s hand
That would have reft thy charms away,
’Twas pity check’d—and let thee stand!
While cherish’d by the blushing fair,
And waving on thy hardy stem,
Thy fragrance rich, perfum’d the air,—
Thou’rt blasted now to me and them!
Unlike to thee, whose task is done,
When Man shall quit this vale of tears,
After this life’s short glass is run,
Man shall exist in nobler spheres.
All earthly glories fade away,
So transient and so insecure;
With us, alas, how short’s their stay!
Prefigur’d by a dying Flower!
Yet we have cause to bless the day,
If weary of a life mispent,
By this thy exit, any may
Be led to ponder, and repent.
Thou transient teller of the truth,
May he who bids, and thunders roll,
Forgive the follies of my youth,
And stamp thy lesson on My soul!
[The end]
John Castillo's poem: To A Withered Flower!
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