The Fading Flower

There is a chillness in the air —

A coldness in the smile of day;

There is a flower that yet must fade,

And yield its sweetness up to death.

Her earthly hope is gone; and now

Comes in its place a brighter beam,

Leaving upon her snowy brow

The impress of a heavenly dream:

That she, when her frail body yields,

And fades away to mortal eyes,

Shall burst through Heaven's eternal fields,

And bloom again – in Paradise.