My mom shared this poem with me written by my great great aunt; a love of plants and flowers runs in the family ๐ To a Maidenhair Fern Far from the drip, drip of spring water Seeping into the mat of leaf mold about your feet, Do you resent the lapse of years Since you green in lush mosaic Against the cold grey stones of old St. Augustine? I found you there, my maidenhair, at Fort Marian I love you; brought you captive to the North. You grow for me in the light of my bay window Light mellowed by sheer curtains Gives a translucence to your scalloped leaves, which hand on fragile, ebony stems. You live in a (unreadable) I give you cool drinks, you love them. It reminds you of the springs in your early Florida home. You love damp leaf mold too, In which your roots mat and sent up tiny fiddlebows which unfold into tender (unreadable) of green. You love one opal immmoveable So you may spread out your lacy leaves. You resent caresses I know all your eccentrenticies, my maiden-hair, We have been lovers so long You have been with me in happiness; in tears. I have torn and divided you; given you to strangers and friends. But neglected you - never! I would not like life apart from you. W.M. P. โ50