The Sorrowful Tree.*
’Tis said that in an island, when the dew hath kissed each flower,1
And leaves, all trembling at the touch, have owned its magic power,2
And while the snowy petals have closed up with the light,3
There grows among them one strange plant—a messenger of night.4
Deep in the lone, still watches, when stars their vigils keep,5
As though with eyes of love to guard the flow’rets while they sleep,6
When the deep’ning shades of twilight are lost amid the gloom,7
Then bud and blossom ope to life and yield a sweet perfume.8
From out their golden chalices an incense seems to rise,9
And noiselessly upon the air it reaches Paradise.10
Oh ! lone and silent watcher, thou dost a message bring11
To human hearts that like to thee are called the sorrowing—12
That not alone in sunshine should our light be shining bright,13
But kept all burning through the gloom and deep’ning shades of night ;14
And though the star of hope be o’ershadowed by a cloud,15
God shall in His own time lift the head that long hath bowed.16
* In the Island of Goa, near Bombay, there is a singular vegetable called “ The
Sorrowing Tree,” because it only flourishes in the night. At sunset no flowers are to
be seen, and yet half an hour after it is quite full of them. They yield a sweet smell,
but the sun no sooner begins to shine upon them, than some of them fall off, and
others close up ; and thus the plant continues, flowering in the night during the
whole year.
Sorrowing Tree,” because it only flourishes in the night. At sunset no flowers are to
be seen, and yet half an hour after it is quite full of them. They yield a sweet smell,
but the sun no sooner begins to shine upon them, than some of them fall off, and
others close up ; and thus the plant continues, flowering in the night during the
whole year.