In Chrysanthemumiam (poetry)

1898

In Chrysanthemumiam.

Say there,
You rosybuds
And lilypods,
And sweet pease,
And daffydowndillies,
And daisies,
And geraniums,
And all you other
Miss Nancies of the flowering world,
will you please go sprinkle yourselves,
And turn your weeping eyes on me?
Me,
The effulgent and iridescent full back
Of the Floral field?
The only blooming
Football player
In the whole botanical business.
There's nothing
Of the modest little violet style
In my ornate
And flocculent physiognomy.
And when it comes
To throwing boquets
I rather fancy
I'm the whole plate
Of cold slaw
Myself!
Don't I seem
To strike you that way?
I am also
A shredded sunburst of glory,
And when I rise and shine
There is but one light
By which the footsteps
Of the fleet and fading Flora
Are guided:
That's
The chrysanthemum!

—W. J. Lampton, in N. Y. Sun.

—Dubuque Herald, Dubuque, IA, Nov. 27, 1898, p. 3.