EVE'S FLOWERS

Eve must have wept to leave her flowers,

And plucked some roots to tell

Of Eden's happy, sinless bowers,

Where she in bliss did dwell.

Roses and lilies, pansies gay,

Violets with azure eyes,

Her favorites must have been, for they

Seem born in paradise.

And when they drooped, did she not sigh

And kiss their petals fair,

Thinking, “Alas, ye too must die

And in our sorrow share”?

And then perhaps unto her soul

This answer sweet was given,

“Like you we fade and perish here;

For you we'll bloom in heaven.”

Roses and lilies are the type

Of him who from above,

The lamb of God, gave up his life,

A sacrifice of love.

He was her hope in those sad hours

Of blight and sure decay;

The sin that drove her from her flowers

His blood could wash away.