She gave me a flow'ret, — and oh! it was sweet!
'T was a pea, in full bloom, with its dark crimson leaf,
And I said in my heart, this shall be thy retreat!
'T is one 'sacred to Friendship' — a stranger to grief.

In my bosom I placed it, — 't is withered and gone!
All its freshness, its beauty, its fragrance had fled!
And in sorrow I sigh'd, — am I thus left alone?
Is the gift which I cherish'd quite faded and dead?

It has wither'd! but she who presented it blooms,
Still fresh and unfading, in memory here
And through life shall here flourish, 'mid danger and storms,
As sweet as the flower, though more lasting and fair!