When Eve had led her lord away,
And Cain had killed his brother,
The stars and flowers, the poets say,
Agreed with one another...
They'd cheat the cunning tempter's art,
And teach the race its duty,
By turning on their wicked hearts,
Eyes of light and beauty.
A million sleepless lids, they claimed,
Would serve them as a warning...
So the flowers watched from day to night,
The stars from eve to morning.
Over hill and prairie, field and lawn,
Their dewy eyes upturning,
Still they watch from reddening dawn,
Till western skies are burning.
And each flower tells a single tale,
A tale of shame so crushing,
That some turn white as sea bleached shells,
And most are always blushing.
But when the patient stars look down,
And with all their light discover,
The murderer's heart, the cheater's smile,
The lips of lying lovers...
They try to shut their saddened eyes,
But O' the vain endeavor!
We see them twinkling in the skies,
And so they wink forever.
