Poem April 12, 1900 Issue

A Flower Legend

BY M. A. G

When he whose sinless spirit has
For centuries been our guide and way,
Compassed by stern and cruel foes,
Was being forced up the dread hill
Of suffering and shameful death,
Weary and fainting 'neath the burden
Of the heavy cross on which he was to yield
In agony, his stainless life,—
'Tis said, that in his steps
There bloomed a sudden wonder:—
A snowy flower, that mortal eye
Till then, had never seen.
To instant life it sprang beneath his feet,
In perfect beauty, standing there,
Its snowy head half bent
As though in tender reverence.
Step by step, where'er his blessed feet
Did press in pain and weariness the pitying earth,
There bloomed a perfect flower;
And thus they made a path of shining light,
Which shamed and hushed the jeering, mocking crowd;
But those who loved him, bent in awe
Above the snowy miracle, and murmured low:—
"Behold, the flower of Christ!"
In days long past, when life was set
To glad and gracious melody,
I read this legend, fanciful and sweet,
And since that day, a tenderer grace has clothed for me
The lovely flower, which in these later years,
We call Chrysanthemum,—
The Christ-flower of that wondrous day,
From out whose bitter shamefulness,
Has sprung a Light
Which yet shall fill the world!