The Reaper And The Flowers

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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.

Next 10 Poems

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Skeleton In Armor
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Slave's Dream
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Sound Of The Sea
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Three Kings
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Village Blacksmith
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Witnesses
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Wreck Of The Hesperus
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : There Was A Little Girl
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : Tide Rises, The Tide Falls, The

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• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Rainy Day
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Psalm Of Life
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 12 - December
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 11 - November
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 10 - October
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 09 - September
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 08 - August
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 07 - July
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 06 - June
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow : The Poet's Calendar: 05 - May