The Reaper and the Flowers

There is a Reaper, whose name is Death,

And with his sickle keen,

He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,

And the flowers that grow between.

Lilacs On The Table

Ivanov Vladimir

"Shall I have naught that is fair?" saith he;

"Have naught but the bearded grain? 

Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me,

I will give them all back again."

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes,

He kissed their drooping leaves;

It was for the Lord of Paradise

He bound them in his sheaves.

"My Lord has need of these flowerets gay,"

The Reaper said, and smiled;

"Dear tokens of the earth are they,

Where He was once a child.

"They shall all bloom in fields of light,

Transplanted by my care,

And saints, upon their garments white,

Those sacred blossoms wear."

The mother gave, in tears and pain

The flowers she most did love;

She knew she should find them all again

In the fields of light above.

Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath,

The Reaper came that day;

"T was an angel visited the green earth,

And took the flowers away.

Lilac Angel

Laurie Snow Hein


"For last enemy to be subdued and abolished is death"
1 Corinthians 15:26

"The Reaper and the Flowers'

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(1809-1882)

American poet and educator