Adornment

“ Certain things belong to the adornment of the universe by reason of their proper movement; and in this way the heavenly luminaries agree with others that conduce to that adornment, for they are moved by a living substance. ”

“ Weaving the warp and woof of human destinies; — measuring terms of life as the stems of flowers are measured; —
Mystically mingling Evil with Good; Joy with Sorrow; Love with Grief; — tints of Passion with tints of Melancholy, — even as in a bouquet the hues of a hundred flowers are blended into one rich design.
Evanescent as the beauty of Woman are the colors of the flowers; — volatile their drowsy-sweet odors as the perfume of youth. ”

“ Vases of flowers cut from her garden, tended by her own care and love, were on desk and table and in sunny alcoves, filling the room with a glory of color and a fragrance as of incense from jewelled censers swung in adoration of the goddess of the exquisite shrine.
Remembering that charming study as I saw it then, blossoming and redolent with the flowers beloved of the heart of its mistress, I wonder at times if all that beauty is still there and if some bright soul, as in the dead days, is sunning itself in that warmth and glow. ”

“ The great flames decorate the darkness, and the twilight sheds upon the rose curtains, walking birds and falling petals. But his thoughts are dreaming through long aisle and solemn arch, clouds of incense and painted panes.... The palms rise in great curls like the sky; and amid the opulence of gold vestments, the whiteness of the choir, the Latin terminations and the long abstinences, the holy oil comes like a kiss that never dies ... and in full glory of symbol and chant, the very savour of God descends upon him ... ”

“ As the breeze in rising gladness lifts the curtain more and more,
And a smile seems stealing over the dim faces in the room,
'Till the pictured wall looks breathing through the soft and dreamy gloom.
Antique jewels seem to sparkle, and to wave the bending plume.
Nothing cares the silent dreamer that those pictures, old and dim,
Give more sense of life and motion to the gazer's eye than him;
Little heeds he sun or shadow, pleasant sounds or fragrant air;
He is in a world whose visions are a thousand times more fair,
Musing, speechless with enchantment, on the glorious beauties there. ”

“ They are Love's last gift—Bring ye flowers, pale flowers!
Bring flowers to the shrine where we kneel in prayer,
They are Nature's offering, their place is there!
They speak of hope to the fainting heart,
With a voice of promise they come and part,
They sleep in dust through the wintry hours,
They break forth in glory—Bring flowers, bright flowers! ”

“ Curtains hang, mist-like, from massive cornices in gilt. Satin drapery, mysteriously underlaid with lace, and floating in bewitching chasteness over a fairy-like bed, makes more voluptuous that ravishing form calmly sleeping—half revealed among the snowy sheets, and forming a picture before which fancy soars, passion unbends itself, and sentiment is led away captive. With such exquisite forms strange nature excites our love;—that love that like a little stream meanders capriciously through our feelings, refreshing life, purifying our thoughts, exciting our ambition, and modulating our actions. ”

“ The momentary glories waste,
The short-lived beauties die away.
3So blooms the human face divine,
When youth its pride of beauty shows:
Fairer than spring the colours shine,
And sweeter than the virgin rose. ”

“ A sweet restoring fragrance through his breast,
Chosen from the wild-flowers that he loves the best.
In that sweet trance he sees the sparkling glee
That sanctifies the face of infancy;
[Pg 319] The dimpled cheek where playful fondness lies,
And the blue softness of her smiling eyes;
The spirit's temple unprofaned by tears,
Where God's unclouded loveliness appears;
Those gleams of soul to every feature given,
When youth walks guiltless by the light of heaven! ”

“ Each petal, taking the boon light and air
⁠Of summer so to heart?
To bring thy beauty unto perfect flower,
⁠Then, like a passing fragrance or a smile,
Vanish away, beyond recovery's power—
⁠Was it, frail bloom, worth while?
Thy silence answers: "Life was mine! ”

“ The even stretch of green, bedecked with flowers 36to match the color of my pale gold gown, is mine to dance and skip upon. A lightness and a grace comes into my limbs. What joy is mine! I leap and spring and dart in rhythm with nature, and music leaps from my steps and movements and before my eyes are men. Men and women and children with heads bent forward, with eyes aglow with wonder, and with praise and love for this essence of grace and beauty which is I. What more, what more! ”

“ I would liken you to a shaft of sunlight, a withering flame—a black flame, if such there be—for your grace and ardour is even as a flame. Your step is laughter and song. Your hair is a torrent of starless night. The sun is your lover, you god. He takes joy in your perfection. ”

“ WHAT changes have been manifested—how unceasingly and with what deftness Nature has silently wrought in tapestry and embroidery, sculpture and painting, till beauty is all around us, in the green carpet of earth, brightened with flowers and leafage of every hue! No wonder the birds sing praises to Him who gave them life with its fullness of blessings. Sad to think that man, high over all, and under the greatest obligation, too often is silent in thanksgiving for the gifts of a Father's love. ”

“ The air grows sweet With the fragrant breath of the orange blooms, And the flowers she treads beneath her feet Die in a flood of rare perfumes!
She comes! she comes! The happy bells With joyous clamor fill the air, While the great organ dies and swells, Soaring to trembling heights of prayer! Oh! rare are her robes of silken sheen, And the pearls that gleam on her bosom’s snow; But rarer the grace of her royal mien, Her hair’s fine gold, and her cheek’s young glow. ”

“ Sometimes out of the dusk all tremulous with tinted light the rainbow ray of a jewel flashed in his eyes—or sometimes he caught the glint of eyes above the jewel—a passing view of a fair face, a moment's encountering glance, and, maybe, a smile just as the shadows falling turned the garden's brightness to a mystery peopled with phantoms. ”

“ The perfume of the baskets of flowers, the glitter of the ornaments worn, the brilliancy of the diamonds, mingling with the colours of the floral decorations, and constituting, as it were, ever so many shifting rainbows, the sheen of the golden fruit-baskets—in short, the whole presented the most magnificent sight hitherto witnessed anywhere. The magic of that picture transported the spectator to one of the fairy scenes created by a poetic imagination. During the collation minstrels sang, to the accompaniment of their harps, lays to the beauty of the dames and to the valour of their knights. ”

“ While abounding in separate points of beauty, each a source of distinct and peculiar pleasure,—as the outline of her temples, the white line that parted her night-black hair, the bend of her wrists, the moulding of her finger-tips,—yet these details were lost in the overwhelming gracefulness of her presence, and the atmosphere of charm which she diffused over all human life. ”

“ Thine eyes are as my lamp's eternal glow.
Amid thy beauty's temple I would fare,
The incense fragrance 'mid thy breath abides;
Like night, that all in starry splendour hides,
Let fall on me thy dark, luxuriant hair. ”

“ Sweet light shall couch by flowery sapphire and blue violets, and dance with jocund joys where the white daisies tesselate the mead; then memory shall illuminate itself—turn out its store of images bright as at their creation; then shall the soul arrange its myriad hues of by-gone time; dwell over the glory of the spiritual scene, until, in extasy and grateful joy, a voice shall shout,—"How beautiful is Light." ”

“ The sacred garment holds
The memory of that parting day
Close hidden in its folds.
The rose is dead, and you are gone,
But to the dress I wore
The rose's smell, the thought of you,
Are wed forevermore. ”

“ Then the tearful raindrop answered—“Give praise where praise is due, The earth indeed were lonely without a smile from you; But without my visits, also, its beauty would decay, The flowers droop and wither, and the streamlets dry away. “I give the flowers their freshness, and you their colours gay, My jewels would not sparkle, without your sunny ray. Since each upon the other so closely must depend, Let us seek the earth together, and our common blessings blend.” ”

“ Then again, when beautiful glances flash like the inconstant streaks of lightning from the dark blue eyes of a bashful beauty, floating like two charming lilies, in the tears of farewell or affected displeasure, or when your sweet-heart, waving her earrings, pours into your ears extremely pleasant and sweet epithets, we notice the same combination of brilliancy and sweetness. ”

“ Bring flowers for the brave and strong-hearted, Bring flowers for the merry and glad, Bring flowers for the weak and despairing, Bring flowers for the weary and sad. Bring flowers, bring flowers, thou Queen of the Spring, Sweet flowers, the dark hours to cheer. Bring flowers for the little ones, flowers for the aged, Bring flowers for the bridal and bier. In this beautiful, sun-lighted Springtime, Bring flowers their fragrance to shed, To brighten the homes of the living, To garnish the graves of the dead. ”

“ Nor let any one scoff at the interest, which I venture to express in the ornament even of a cottage wall. Ornament is the crown of art. Taste is thought. Elegance is the refinement of civilization. The study of beauty, grandeur, and truth, in History and in Nature, is the most practical education of man! ”

“ For them the rainbow glowed in every drop the trailing mists scattered in their wake; for them the pale light of the sun was pure gold of dreams; every frail, courageous flower a delicate censor of fragrance. ”

“ Is it because the earth, never to be forgotten of her heart, now shows so happy and so gay bedecked in its spring dress, radiant in all its flowers, the joy hymn bursting from all its singers’ throats? ”

“ Throwing beauty and blithesomeness over the scene.
See the dew-drops of morning that glitter so bright,
Drunk up by the leaves and the flowers with delight;
See the fair delicate fays, for their heavenly feast,
In colors more lovely their light limbs have drest.
See the dark-rushing showers exultingly come
Down, down to the earth from their high, cloudy home!
How the countless drops twinkle, and dance, and rejoice,
Then creep to the ground with a tremulous voice! ”

“ We walk abroad in the calm stillness of a moonlight evening, when night, cheered by the presence of her fair queen, withholds her dusky pall and contents herself by drawing a thin silvery veil over the fair-face of nature, which only serves to cast a shade of pensive beauty upon her lovely features. ”

“ His eyes, deep and glowing, were no strangers to beauty, for the fairest were gathered like flowers to adorn the altars of the God, to dance and sing before his divine dreams, in all things to abide his will. ”

“ The rapture and the living glow
Of lips, and breast, and hair.
But as it is, the earth you press,
The clinging texture of your dress,
The jewel on your hand
Know more of Heaven and joys therein
Than I, whose soul has never been
Where it could understand.
[63]
ROSES FALL
One by one the roses' petals fall to earth;
Though God's sun is still above them,
And the ardent breezes love them
They must die.
Ere their greatest joy is born,
Lo! they wither and are gone ”

“ When the wind of the evening is nigh;
Were your smile like that glorious light,
Seen when the stars gem the deep midnight;
Were that sigh and that smile for ever the same—
They were shadows, not fuel, to love's dull'd flame.
Love once formed an amulet,
With pearls, and a rainbow, and rose-leaves set. ”

“ Flows from within and glorifies the world.
For so a common wayside blossom, touched
With tender thought, assumes a grace more sweet
Than crowns the royal lily of the South;
And so a well-remembered perfume seems
The breath of one who breathes in Paradise.
1872.
MATINS Flowers rejoice when night is done,
Lift their heads to greet the sun;
Sweetest looks and odours raise,
In a silent hymn of praise.
So my heart would turn away
From the darkness to the day;
Lying open in God's sight
Like a flower in the light.
THE PARTING AND THE COMING GUEST Who watched the worn-out Winter die? ”

“ Bring one of the commonest field-flowers into a room, place it on a table or chimneypiece, and you seem to have brought a ray of sunshine into the place. There is a cheerfulness about flowers. What a delight are they to the drooping invalid! They are like a sweet draught of enjoyment, coming as messengers from the country, and seeming to say, "Come and see the place where we grow, and let your heart be glad in our presence."
What can be more innocent than flowers! They are like children undimmed by sin. They are emblems of purity and truth, a source of fresh delight to the pure and innocent. ”

“ This face, so near and yet which seemed to him intangible, and these scattered objects on the table, and these high, purple flowers, and this whirl of light-winged forms around the source of the light, and the pure serenity which descended from the stars, and the musical breath which rose from the sea, and all the images reflected by his feelings—all seemed to him as in a dream. ”

“ And by their praise dispel the evening's greyness?
I praise dim hair that worthiest is of praise
And dream upon its unbound loveliness,
And how therethrough mine eyes have seen the stars.
Yea, through that cloud mine eyes have seen the stars
That drift out slowly when night steals the day,
Through such a cloud meseems their loveliness
Surpasses that of all the other flowers. ”

“ The sunset has passed through every stage of beauty, through every glory of colour, through riot and triumph, through pathos and tenderness, into a long, dreamy, painless rest, succeeded by the profound solemnity of the moonlight, and a stillness broken only by the night cries of beasts in the aromatic forests. ”