Explore "The Cardinal Flower" by Edwina Stanton Babcock on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Wrapped in his crimson gown and cowl, / Beside her slender form he stood; / There by the grassy brook they strayed, / And sun-rise thrush and moonlight owl / Knew that she listened while he wooed.
So blue her eyes, so golden fell / The sunny hair about her face; / She stepped with delicate sweet pride / Along the grasses, close beside / The brook's cool lily-shadowed place.
"It was a shame that they should go / Thus side by side, at last to part," / Earth said: "Mine all this color now, / Her soft blue eyes, gold hair and brow, / The red blood in his ardent heart."
Men say, "They died. " They passed away; / I am not sure what trail they took. / But where the grasses bend and sway, / Red Cardinal flower burns its way -- / Forget-me-nots grow in the brook.