Primroses and Prayers

This is a primrose morning,
The wind has put up her hair;
The bells, hung in my cherry tree,
are still – No birds feast there.
I walked up the noon hill,
Saddest of prim things.
I met a fair child selling 
bunches of butterfly wings.
I gave him a painted ball
For a mist bouquet,
Now flitter ghosts put wings on
all I do or say. 

Note: Primrose Day is April 19th.

Primrose Day commemorates the death date of Queen Victoria’s favorite Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. His favorite flower was the Primrose.

The name comes from the Latin primus, meaning first rose.

In 1889, London newspapers reported that,

They received no fewer than 811 sets of verses from 'poets' who have attempted to carry off the small prize awarded for a Primrose poem. In 1884, when the competition started, only 77 poems were sent in. In 1886 the number rose to 557. Next year there will probably be 1,000 competitors.