Welcome back to Flower Poetry Fridays with Mrs. Sigourney. Each Friday a new poem will be posted from her The Voice Of Flowers.
THE SNOW DROP.
A Dedication for an Annual with that title. A Snow Drop in Bloom
WHEN infant Spring, with a glance of fear,
Doth tread in the steps of the Winter drear,
And beckon the streams on the frosted plains
To loosen the links of their icy chains,
Ere yet the Violet hath dar’d to show
Its timid head through the wasting snow,
While Tulip and Dahlia on couches deep,
In their bulbous night-caps, are fast asleep,
Like beauties fatigued at the midnight rout,
Who shut the sun, with their curtains, out,—
At the earliest call of the blue-bird sweet,
I venture forth through the mist and sleet,
And haste to bring, with my simple cheer,
The first glad wish of the new born year.
But now from Autumn, a boon I bear,
Of varied tint, and a perfume rare,—
Taste hath wander’d through grove and bower,
The bird to win, and to cull the flower,
And to gather them close in a charmed ring,
And to bind them fast with a silken string ;
Friendship doth offer the gift to thee,—
Pure and warm may its guerdon be.
By the way guerdon means reward. I agree that friendship IS a great reward. When is the last time you gave a handful of flowers to a friend, offering nothing more than the reward of friendship?
This Snow Drop Poem is very timely as we’re in an infant spring right now in the Northern Hemisphere. Spring officially started one week ago today.
From this poem we learn the tulips, dahlias, and violets are not early Spring bloomers, but the Snow Drop sure is.
Snow drops have the most appropriate name as they can often be seen coming up through the snow, even in late winter. The blooms hang in such a way that they appear to be drooping their heads toward the ground or dropping toward the snow.
Being the first flower to show itself in Spring gives the Snow Drop special awakening powers to all who see it bloom.
Come back next Friday for the next installment in our series of flower poems from Mrs. Sigourney’s The Voice of Flowers, “The Cactus Speciosissimus”.
