to Miss Rawlinson

[Skerryvore, Bournemouth, April 1886.]

Of the many flowers you brought me,
   Only some were meant to stay,
And the flower I thought the sweetest
   Was the flower that went away.

Of the many flowers you brought me,
   All were fair and fresh and gay,
But the flower I thought the sweetest
   Was the blossom of the May.

Robert Louis Stevenson.