Flower And Fruit

THE flower you placed within my button-hole
Has faded; but there lives within my soul
Another rose, unfolding hour by hour—
Your beauty's self in its immortal flower.

So living-warm this dainty blossom blows,
As if a sunbeam blushed into a Rose,
To make me rich with its ungathered wealth,
And happy in the glory of its health;

With fragrance like a waft from heaven afar,
And look as lustrous as the morning star.
I do not come to crown your beauty, Sweet!
Nor thank you for it, kneeling at your feet;

But pray that on Love's bosom it may rest,
As thornless as its likeness in my breast;
And ask Him who such promise here hath given
To let me see the Flower fulfilled in heaven.