Marigold (or ‘French marigold’): both Named in honor of Mary (‘Mary's gold’), symbolize her simplicity, domesticity. Marigold also sometimes denoted Mary's sorrows, perhaps because its strong scent was associated with burial ointments

Marigold

Time foretells the coming rebirth
From the damp sleepy earth
All through long wintry hours
Breaks forth the glory of flowers

The foxglove with its noble bells
Purple which adorns the dells
Buttercups in meadows green
The wind shifts the moving scene

And shakes my own wild flowers
In the short life of summer hours;
The windflower perished long ago
The wild rose too in summers glow

But the aster still blooms in the wood
And by a brook the marigold stood
Golden petals like rays of light
Gathering tears of sheer delight

The marigold like the glorious sun
When he begin his course to run
She displays elegance and grace
When he sets she turns her face

You have been adored long and well
Charmed me with your secret spell
The voice of promise come and part
Speaks of hope to faint of heart

In the living garment of the creator
Mary gold flowers stars of nature
I see the life in your every leaf
Flowers love’s language is belief

Beryl McMullen