A Memory.

Amid my treasures once I found
    A simple faded flower;
A flower with all its beauty fled,
    The darling of an hour.

With bitterness I gazed awhile,
    Then flung it from my sight;
For with it all came back to me
    the pain and heedless blight.

But, moved with pity and regret
    I took it up again;
For oh, so long and wearily
    In darkness it had lain.

Ah, purple pansy, once I kissed
    Your dewy petals fair;
For then, indeed, I had no thought
    Of earthly pain or care.

Your faded petals now I touch
    With sacred love and awe;
For never will my heart kneel down
    To earthly will or law.

Your velvet beauty still is dear,
    Though faded now you seem;
You drooped and died, yet still you are
    The symbol of my dream.

Sweet, modest flower, tinged with gold,
    A lesson you have said;
Your purple glory, like my love,
    Is faded now, and dead.

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick was an American poet of the 19th century. Not much is known about her early life, but her poetry was well-regarded and she became known for her emotional and heartfelt verses. She contributed to various periodicals and was part of the literary scene of her time. Her works often focused on themes of love, nature, and the human experience. Despite her contributions, detailed biographical information about Sherrick remains sparse.

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick

Tower Grove.

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick, Simple Poetry

Moonlight.

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick, Simple Poetry

May.

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick, Simple Poetry

Twin Lilies.

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick, Simple Poetry

English

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The Old Year and the New.

Low at my feet there lies to-night
    A crushed and withered rose;
Within its heart of fading red
    No crimson fire glows;
For o'er its leaves the frost of death
    Steals like an icy breath;
And soon 't will vanish from my sight,
    A thing of gloom and death.

Ah! beauteous flower, once thou wert
    My pleasure and my pride;
And now when thou art old and worn
    I will not turn aside;
But gently o'er thy faded leaves
    I'll shed one kindly tear;
That thou wilt know, though dead and gone,
    To memory thou art dear.

Before my gaze there lies to-night
    A rose-bud fresh and fair;
And like the breath of dewy morn
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The Queen-Rose. A Summer Idyl.

The sunlight fell with a golden gleam
    On the waves of the rippling rill;
The pansies nodded their purple heads;
    But the proud queen-rose stood still.
She loved the light and she loved the sun,
And the peaceful night when the day was done,
But the faithless sun in his careless way
Had broken her heart on that summer's day.

She had bathed her soul in his warm sweet, rays,
    She had given her life to him;
And her crimson heart--it was his alone--
    Of love it was full to the brim.
But a fairer bud in the garden of love
Had conquered the heart of the king above;
And the proud queen-rose on that summer's day
Had given a love that was thrown away.

The pansies laughed in the summer breeze,
    For they were so happy and free;
And the...

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick

Autumn Flowers.

O crimson-tined flowers
    That live when others die,
What thoughtless hand unloving
    Could ever pass you by?

You are the last bright blossoms,
    The summer's after-glow,
When all her early children
    Have faded long ago.

Sweet golden-rod and xenia
    And crimson marigold,
What dreams of autumn splendor
    Your velvet leaves unfold.

Long, long ago the violets
    Have closed their sweet blue eyes,
And lain with pale, dead faces
    Beneath the summer skies.

And on their graves you blossom
    With leaves of gold and red,
And yet--how soon forever
    Your beauty will be fled.

The frost will come to kill you
    The snows will wrap you round;
And you will sleep forgotten
    Upon the fro...

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick

Memory

A treasured link of shining pearls,
    A by-gone melody,
A shower of tears with smiles between--
    And this is memory.
A thing so light a breath of air
    May waft its life away;
A thing so dark that moments of pain
    Seem like some endless day.

A careless word may wound the heart,
    And quickly it may die;
Yet in the seas of memory
    Forever it will lie.
And sometimes when the tide rolls back
    Its waves of joy and pain,
That careless word, though long forgot,
    Will wound the heart again.

The restless seas of memory
    Are vast and deep and wide;
And every deed that we can know
    Sleeps in that tireless tide.
Upon the thoughtless lives of men
    Its waves in mockery roll;
And sweep a might of bitter...

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick

Sunset on the Mississippi.

O beautiful hills in the purple light,
    That shadow the western sky,
I dream of you oft in the silent night,
    As the golden days go by.

The river that flows at my longing feet
    Is tinged with a deeper glow;
But the song that it sings is as sad to-day
    As it was in the long ago.

The far-off clouds in the far-off sky
    Are tinted with gold and red;
But the lesson they tell to the hearts of men
    Is a lesson that never is said.

The star-crowned night in her sable plumes
    Is veiling the eastern sky,
And she trails her robes in the dying fires
    That far in the west do lie.

A single gem from her circlet old
    Is lost as she wanders by,
And the beautiful star with its golden light
    Shines out in the lo...

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick

Tower Grove.

Oh tell me not of the lands so old
Where the Orient treasures its hills of gold,
And the rivers lie in the sun's bright rays
Forever singing the old world's praise.
Nor proudly boast of the gardens grand
That spring to earth at a king's command;
There are treasures here in the far great West
That rival the hills on the Orient's crest.

Far from the sight of the dusty town
Like a perfect gem in a golden crown,
Lies a beautiful garden vast and fair,
Where the wild birds sing in the evening air,
And the dews fall down in a silent shower
On the fragrant head of each beaming flower;
While far and near o'er the land sun-kissed,
Hangs the roseate veil of the sunset mist.

Under the shade of the western wall
There's a glimmer of roses fair and tall,

Fannie Isabelle Sherrick