{"id":7050,"date":"2014-05-01T17:18:09","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T21:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/?p=7050"},"modified":"2014-05-02T18:49:01","modified_gmt":"2014-05-02T22:49:01","slug":"the-lily-of-the-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/?p=7050","title":{"rendered":"The Lily of the Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first of May, a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar<\/a> (1872\u20131906), who spent part of his brief but prolific life here in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

\"MayLilyValley\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sweetest of the flowers a-blooming
\nIn the fragrant vernal days
\nIs the Lily of the Valley
\nWith its soft, retiring ways.<\/p>\n

Well, you chose this humble blossom
\nAs the nurse\u2019s emblem flower,
\nWho grows more like her ideal
\nEvery day and every hour.<\/p>\n

Like the Lily of the Valley
\nIn her honesty and worth,
\nAh, she blooms in truth and virtue
\nIn the quiet nooks of earth.<\/p>\n

Tho\u2019 she stands erect in honor
\nWhen the heart of mankind bleeds,
\nStill she hides her own deserving
\nIn the beauty of her deeds.<\/p>\n

In the silence of the darkness
\nWhere no eye may see and know,
\nThere her footsteps shod with mercy,
\nAnd fleet kindness come and go.<\/p>\n

Not amid the sounds of plaudits,
\nNor before the garish day,
\nDoes she shed her soul\u2019s sweet perfume,
\nDoes she take her gentle way.<\/p>\n

But alike her ideal flower,
\nWith its honey-laden breath,
\nStill her heart blooms forth its beauty
\nIn the valley shades of death.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014Paul Laurence Dunbar<\/em><\/p>\n

\"CakeLilyValley\"<\/a><\/i>Mary<\/p>\n

\"CakeBalloons2\"<\/a>Josiah<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the first of May, a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872\u20131906), who spent part of his brief but prolific life here in Washington, DC. Sweetest of the flowers a-blooming In the fragrant vernal days Is the Lily of the Valley With its soft, retiring ways. Well, you chose this humble blossom As the nurse\u2019sRead more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[76,17,19,3],"class_list":["post-7050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketchbook","tag-flowers","tag-penink","tag-poem","tag-watercolor"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7050"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7053,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7050\/revisions\/7053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}