Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Second Book of Modern Verse. 1922.

The Flower of Mending

WHEN Dragon-fly would fix his wings,

When Snail would patch his house,

When moths have marred the overcoat

Of tender Mister Mouse,

The pretty creatures go with haste

To the sunlit blue-grass hills

Where the Flower of Mending yields the wax

And webs to help their ills.

The hour the coats are waxed and webbed

They fall into a dream,

And when they wake the ragged robes

Are joined without a seam.

My heart is but a dragon-fly,

My heart is but a mouse,

My heart is but a haughty snail

In a little stony house.

Your hand was honey-comb to heal,

Your voice a web to bind.

You were a Mending Flower to me

To cure my heart and mind.