The Last Flower Of The Year

The geutian was the year"s last child, Born when the winds were hoarse and wild With wailing over buried flowers, The playmates of their sunnier hours. The gentian hid a thoughtful eye Beneath deep fringes, blue and shy ; Only by warmest mooii-beams wou, To meet the welcome of the sun. The gentian, her long lashes through, Looked up intothe sky so blue, And feit at home -the color, there, The good God gave herself to wear. The gentian searched the fields around ; No flower-companiou there she found. TJpward, from all the woodland ways, Floated the aster's silvery rays. The gentian shut her eyelids tight On falling leaf and frosty night ; And close her azure mantle drew, While dreary winds around her blew. The genitan said, " The world is cold ; Yet one clear glirapse of heaven I hold. The sun's last thought is miue to keep ; Eiicuiih - now let me co to sleeo."