The Blue Aster.

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 154, 25 March 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

The Blue Aster.

TT was in a neglected small garden, Where tangled weeds grow, That the last butterfly of the summer Found an. aster a-blow. It was blue as the faintness of mountains, As the sky o’er the sea, As a pale curl of smoke against pine trees, As the dawn on the lea. And the butterfly looked on its blueness, And the message he read Turned his gay carelessness all to sadness, For he knew summer dead.

He had seen, iu the depths of’the aster, Gentle mists, a dim band Stealing down in the shortening evenings, To cover the land.

And he knew that the tirst torch of autumn Had been kindled; he, too, must go

on, So he brushed the blue face of the aster— Then his white wings were gone. —Awatea (16), Wellington. Carnations. We have a flower bed Of carnations white and red; They look very very trim and neat, Their scent is ever so sweet. I water them every night, So they will keep fresh and bright; Do come and look at this lovely sight— My trim carnations, red and white. —Pat the Pirate (12), Wanganui. * « « Nasturtiums. I like nasturtiums in my garden, nasturtiums gold and red, Gay intruders, rambling care-free, where the gardener fears to tread. Brown and yellow look a picture on the garden wall, But who gave you permission to climb a sunflower tall?

The old tree stump looks stately with her green and golden crown, But the crazy path is not the place for nasturtiums gold and brown.

Today you reign supreme, and every wh ere iny garden glows, But autumn nights are chilly and tomorrow, ah! Who knows? For the Frost Prince cares nothing for nasturtiums gold and red And any morning I might wake to find that you are dead. Frosty only laughs at m e and points to snowflakes in a row But nasturtiums, red and yellow, I grieve to see you go.

Gillyflower. My garden patch is very bare, No flower of beauty bloometh there. I often think the flowers sigh, “If it does not rain, we all may die.”

But bravely in the barren bed. A yellow wallflower waves its head. —Snow Fairy (9), Takapau.