The Reaper and the Flowers

For this month's theme post, I'm going to share with you all a poem that is a favorite of mine. I first heard it in song form (which took my breath away) and from them on I've adored it. It was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet in the 1800's. 

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. 

``Shall I have nought that is fair?'' saith he; 

``Have nought 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, 

These sacred blossoms wear.'' 

And 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. 

O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, 

The Reaper came that day; 

'Twas an angel visited the green earth, 

And took the flowers away.

Please have a listen to the song also, it's quite beautiful.