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Peonies
The peony, - the rose of Pentecost.
for spirit healing power highly praised,
With petals, four-rayed, curled or open-faced,
Red, white and pink in twirling over-thrust
Physician Peon, - in remote a time
Cured ailing gods on mount Olympus’ height
When blood was shed in argument or fight
With this fair flower’s root admixed with thyme.
,
Asclepius, enflamed with jealousy
That Peon only owned the curing root,
That healed the grievous wound and stanched the blood,
Resented the unjust monopoly.
He went at once to Zeus, the father god,
To rail, bewail lament and remonstrate,-
He was physician too, what unjust fate,
Doc Peon had the root, but he had not.
“Grant me that root!” - and Zeus did hear the plea,
And did transform Peon into a plant,
With healing roots, - a rose luxuriant,
That afterwards was called a Peony.
Lo! paean is a hymn or song praise,
What name more fitting could there ever be
For worship - than the name of "Peony"
For hymns and psaltery in any place.
They stand in fullest bloom at Pentecost,
Cared for in many a garden tenderly,
And spur on spirit health and harmony,-
I call them roses of the Holy Ghost.
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