Classic Poem

Old-Fashioned flowers! They linger round the dwelling
Like gentle memories of spirits blest;
With kindly faces, lovely odors, telling
Of hands that tended them, now gone to rest.

How fair they look against the old gray shingles!
No palace could compare with yonder cot,
Where the dark green with purple lilac mingles
In harmony that cannot be forgot.

Old-fashioned flowers! They line our garden closes
With yearly charms, like ever-constant friends;
The pansies smile up at the stately roses,
The aster with the phlox its beauty blends.

Ah, maidens! Do not scorn grandmother's beauties!
No prouder title could ye win for dowers,
Than—making life more sweet by lowly duties—
To grow, each day, more like old-fashioned flowers.

Old-fashioned flowers, old-fashioned friends and faces,
Old-fashioned love, the one true dearest heart!
The breath of roses brings me back your graces
With sweet assurance they shall ne'er depart.