I tend my flowers for thee,
Bright Absentee!
My fuchsia’s coral seams
Rip, while the sower dreams.
Geraniums tint and spot,
Low daisies dot,
My cactus splits a beard
To show its throat.
Carnations tip their spice
And bees pick up.
A hyacinth I hid
Puts out a ruffled head,
And odors fall
From flasks so small
You marvel how they held.
Globe roses break their
Satin flake
Upon my garden floor,
Yet Thou not there—
I had as lief they bore
No crimson more.
Thy flower be gay
Her Lord away!
It ill becometh me.
I’ll dwell in calyx gray
How modestly, alway
Thy daisy,
Draped for Thee.
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