To A Forget-Me-Not

FOUND IN MY EMPORIUM OF LOVE-TOKENS.

Sweetflower, that with thy soft blue eye Didst once look up in shady spot, To whisper to the passer-by Those tender words--Forget-me-not!

Though withered now, thou art to me The minister of gentle thought,-- And I could weep to gaze on thee,. Love's faded pledge--Forget-me-not!

Thou speak'st of hours when I was young, And happiness arose unsought; When she, the whispering woods among, Gave me thy bloom--Forget-me-not!

That rapturous hour with that dear maid From memory's page no time shall blot, When, yielding to my kiss, she said, "Oh, Theodore--Forget me not!"

Alasfor love! alas for truth! Alas for man's uncertain lot! Alas for all the hopes of youth That fade like thee--Forget-me-not!

Alas for that one image fair, With all my brightest dreams inwrought! That walks beside me everywhere, Still whispering--Forget me not!

Oh, Memory! thou art but a sigh For friendships dead and loves forgot, And many a cold and altered eye That once did say--Forget me not!

And I must bow me to thy laws, For--odd although it may be thought-- I can't tell who the deuce it was That gave me this Forget-me-not!