| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Of Flowers | | By Maurice Francis Egan (1852–1924) |
| | | THERE were no roses till the first child died, | |
| No violets, nor balmy-breathed heart’s-ease, | |
| No heliotrope, nor buds so dear to bees, | |
| The honey-hearted suckle, no gold-eyed | |
| And lowly dandelion, nor, stretching wide, | 5 |
| Clover and cowslip-cups, like rival seas, | |
| Meeting and parting, as the young spring breeze | |
| Runs giddy races playing seek and hide: | |
| For all flowers died when Eve left Paradise, | |
| And all the world was flowerless awhile, | 10 |
| Until a little child was laid in earth; | |
| Then from its grave grew violets for its eyes, | |
| And from its lips rose-petals for its smile, | |
| And so all flowers from that child’s death took birth. | | | | |
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