Compensation
~~
by Nancy Virginia
Jackson Rhea
my grandmother
~~
The roses withered
that I nursed
With tender care
and labor,
The lilies drooped,
the tulips burst
Their fragrant
hearts, for dew athirst;
Not so those
of my neighbor.
~~
Her roses flaunted
on the breeze,
Their crimson
challenge flinging
To bandit bee
and butterfly
Or humming bird
with bold bright eye,
That summer brings
a-winging.
~~
Tho' I had toiled
early and late
To match my garden's
splendor
With that one
growing near my gate;
Its apple tree
with luscious freight
And rose hedge
shining tender.
~~
My plants lie
prone beneath the rush
Of wind and noisy
smelling flood;
My neighbor's
flowers blow and blush
'Neath gentle
rain in sacred hush
Of prayer-time
'neath the sod.
~~
I felt Cain's
anger in me rise,
While these two
gardens viewing,
I stood with
jealous, moody eyes
Bent to the ground
where withered lie
My plants--the
spot bestrewing.
~~
But suddenly
at my feet I chance
To see a daisy
lifting
Its green and
serrate-fairy lance
And slender,
bending knees advance
And flower snows
adrifting.
~~
My neighbor generous
and sweet
Withholds not
of her treasure,
But freely culls
her fairest flowers
That fall in
opal-tinted showers,
To fill up friendship's
measure.
~~
She merits all
the flowers that bask
In sunlight bright
or hazy,
Then chastened,
I go to my task
Of rearing humble
plants nor ask
For roses--I've
the daisy
~~
Panama City, Fla
-- N. V. Rhea
- Published - 1924
-
Copyright N. V.
Rhea, 1924
~~
To
Poetry-"To A Rose From France"
Nancy
Virginia Rhea Genealogy
Back
to Table of Contents
~
Music ~
"A Beautiful
Symphony"
(Copyright
1999 by Jan McIntosh
and
Elton Smith)
