S

Violets and mignonette, crowded close together,
Crowded close together on the corner of each street,
Through the chilling dampness of the misty weather,
Violets and mignonette--ah, so close together--
Making all the Paris day colorful and sweet!

Roses faintly touched with pink; see, a soldier
lingers
Close beside the flower-stand, dreaming of the day
When she broke a single bud with her slender fingers,
Pressed it to her wistful mouth--see, a soldier lingers
Dreaming of a summertime very far away.

Lilacs white and pure and new, fragrant as the
morning--
One pale widow, passing by, pauses for a space,
Thinking of the lilac tree that once grew, adorning
All a little cottage home, in life's fragrant morning;
Of a lilac tree that grew in a garden place.

Pansies for a thought of love, lilies for love's sorrow,
Bay leaves green as hopes that live, berries red
and brown;
Flowers vivid for a day, gone upon the morrow,
Flowers that are sweet as faith, that are sad as
sorrow--
Flowers for the weary souls of a weary town.

Violets and mignonette, crowded close together,
Crowded close together on the corner of each
street;
Singing of the summertime, through the misty
weather,
Violets and mignonette--ah, so close together--
Making all the Paris day colorful and sweet!

IV. ACROSS THE YEARS

(Marie Antoinette walked down the steps of a certain
Chapel on her way to the guillotine.)

They say a queen once walked along the marble steps
with grace,
To meet grim death by guillotine--a smile was on
her face,
A smile of scorn that lifted her above the howling
crowd,
A smile that mocked at pallid fear--a smile serene
and proud.

Yes, it was Marie Antoinette--she walked with
steady tread,
She sauntered down the marble steps with proudly
lifted head;
And there were those among the crowd who watched
with indrawn breath,
To see a queen walk out with smiles to keep a tryst
with death!

I stood beside those marble steps just yesterday, and
saw,
A bride upon a soldier's arm--a poilu brave who
wore
A Croix de Guerre upon his breast--and oh, th