[Editor: This poem by Una Shaw was published in The Australian Woman’s Mirror (Sydney, NSW), 1 December 1931.]
For Remembrance.
[For the Mirror.]
The stiff-set laurel droops and fades
When kings and conquerors seek the shades;
The wan white lilies fade and fall
On many a richly gilded pall:
But rue and rosemary grow green
On grave of cottager or queen.
So rue and rosemary shall bloom
Around this well-beloved tomb,
And every Spring we still shall find
Among the shadows death is kind,
And in our hearts unchanged live on
The memory of beauty gone.
Una Shaw.
N.S.W.
Source:
The Australian Woman’s Mirror (Sydney, Vic.), 1 December 1931, p. 16 (column 1)
Editor’s notes:
rosemary = the common name of Salvia rosmarinus, an aromatic evergreen shrub with small narrow leaves and light-blue, pink, purple, or white flowers, native to the Mediterranean region; a herb sourced from the rosemary plant, used in cooking; (capitalised) Rosemary, a female name
rue = the common name of Ruta graveolens, a strong-smelling perennial plant (also known as common rue, or herb-of-grace), with bitter-tasting leaves used for medicine and as a herb in cooking (although, in large amounts, it can be poisonous)
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