"'T IS really time you were out, I think," Said Lady Rose to her daughter small; "So I'll send my invitations round, And give you, my dear, a splendid ball. "We'd best decide on your toilet first; Your sister Jacqueminot wore dark red; But you are so much smaller than she, I think you must wear pale pink instead. "Then, whom to invite: we can't ask all, And yet it's hardest of all to tell The flowers from weeds. Indeed, last year I snubbed Field Daisy, and now she's a belle. "We'll ask the Pansies, they're always in The best society everywhere; The Lilies, Heliotropes, and Pinks, Geraniums, Fuchsias, must sure be there. "Miss Mignonette is so very plain, A favorite, though, -- I'll put her down; The Violets, I think, are away; They're always the first to leave for town. "The Larkspurs are such old-fashioned things It's not worth while asking them to come; The Zinnias are coarse, Bergamots stiff, The Marigolds better off at home. "Miss Morning Glory I'd like to ask, But then, she never goes out at night; She's such a delicate thing, she says, She scarce can bear a very strong light. "The Verbenas, I know, will be put out If we don't ask them; the Petunias, too. They are not quite @3au fait@1, but then, my dear, They're such near neighbors, what's one to do? "I'll make out my list at once, for there A butterfly is coming this way; I'll send my invitations by him, -- He'll go the rounds without delay. "Dear! dear! to think that to-morrow night You'll really be out. Now listen, my child: Don't go much with your cousin Sweet Brier; He's very nice, but inclined to be wild." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...FLOWER GUIDANCE by ROBERT FROST THE FLOWER BOAT by ROBERT FROST THE GIANTS OF HISTORY by JAMES GALVIN A DIM DOORWAY by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TRANSPOSITIONS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON JOHN WILKES BOOTH AT THE FARM (JANUARY 12, 1848) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |