Christopher Pearse Cranch - The Human Flower II lyrics

Shall that bright flower the countless ages toiled And travailed to bring forth--shall that rare rose, Whose bloom and fragrance earth and heaven unclose Their treasuries to enrich, by d**h be foiled? Its matchless splendour trampled down and spoiled? Shall that Celestial Love--who watched its throes Through centuries of long struggles and of woes, And freed it from the old Serpent round it coiled; Who tended it, and reared its glorious head Above the brambles and the poisonous marsh, And shielded it when zones were cased in ice-- Leave it to perish when the summons harsh Of d**h is rung,--or, ere its leaves are shed, Transplant it to his realm of Paradise?