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PIANTO.
THE EVERLASTING FLOWER.
Said the Lavender to the Everlasting Flower:
“We have been living together on the same
hill. Spring is about to end, and I perceive that my leaves are drying up.
Tomorrow I shall be no more. But thou wilt still live; thou wilt still listen to
the merry strains of the lark; and like her, thou wilt hail the sun when he
comes to dry thy feet, moistened by the dews. Since it is so delightful to live,
why should I be condemned to die?”
The Everlasting Flower replied.
“In nature every thing is changing – every
thing is renewed. I alone remain unaltered.
“Spring gives me no renovated youth. through
all the heats of summer – through all the frosts of winter, my leaves retain
their everlasting paleness.
“I never hear round me the sweet murmur of the
bee. The butterfly never powders me with his wing. The breeze passes by me
without stopping, and the young girls never come near me. Who would care to
gather the flower of the grave – the cold and sever Immortelle?
“Once more, blue-eyed Lavender, wave thy long
ears in sign of gladness. Raise thy eyes to heaven, and be grateful. Thou art
happy, for thou wilt die.
“While I, a wretch condemned, must still drag
out the bleak days and the long nights of winter—must still shiver beneath the
snow—still listen, amid the darkness, to the monotonous wailings of the dead.
“But thou, Lavender, wilt die; and thy soul
will mount to heaven with thy perfume.
“Listen—while I confide to thee my prayer. Say
to him who made us both, that immortality is a fatal gift. Ask that he recall me
to himself, the supreme source of happiness and of life.” |
