Classic Poem

The cosmos on my table,
Pale lavender and white,
Blooms like a shining fable
Told in a cloudy night.
Stray children of lost summers,
Sweet blossoms of the fall,
I thank you, tardy comers,
Dreamers all!

You fetch me dreams of beauty
To light the sober hours;
You whisper of the duty
Of being like to flowers,
Of rooting well and growing
Wherever life has said, —
Of blossoming and glowing
'Mid the dead.

E'en though all round the garden
There creep the blight of frost,
And warm hearts seem to harden,
And faiths of June be lost,
Your mission is in swelling
Hope's trust in beauty's ends,
However late, compelling
Autumn friends!