The Black Wall-Flower

I found a flower in a desolate plot,
Where no man wrought, — by a deserted cot,
Where no man dwelt; a strange, dark-color’d gem,
Black heavy buds on a pale leafless stem.
I pluck’d it, wondering, and with it hied
To my brave May, and showing it I cried:
“Look, what a dismal flower! did ever bloom,
Born of our earth and air, wear such a gloom?
It looks as it should grow out of a tomb:
Is it not mournful?” “No,” replied the child;
And, gazing on it thoughtfully, she smil’d.
She knows each word of that great book of God,
Spread out between the blue sky and the sod:
“There are no mournful flowers — they are all glad;
This is a solemn one, but not a sad.”

Lo! with the dawn the black buds open’d slowly.
Within each cup a color deep and holy,
As sacrificial blood, glow’d rich and red,
And through the velvet tissue mantling spread;
While in the midst of this dark crimson heat
A precious golden heart did throb and beat;
Through ruby leaves the morning light did shine,
Each mournful bud had grown a flow’r divine;
And bitter sweet to senses and to soul,
A breathing came from them, that fill’d the whole
Of the surrounding tranced and sunny air
With its strange fragrance, like a silent prayer.
Then cried I, “From the earth’s whole wreath I’ll borrow
No flower but thee! thou exquisite type of sorrow!”