Forget Me Not
That blue and bright-eyed flow'ret of the brook, hopes gentle gem, the
sweet forget-me-not.
The name of this pretty and delicate flower, which enamels riverbanks
and garden borders with its miniature sky-blue petals, speaks of the
human longing for loyalty and lastingness. Its name comes from a German
folk tale about a couple who, on the eve of their marriage, take a walk
by the banks of the Danube. The young bride admires a cluster of
flowers, and her fiancé goes forward to pick them for her, but falls
into the river. Before he is carried away by the turbulent waters, he
throws the flowers at the feet of his betrothed, crying "Vergiss mein
nicht!"
The very name is Love's own poetry,
Born of the heart, and of the eye begot,
Nursed amid sighs and smiles of constancy,
And ever breathing - "Love! forget me not."
Francis Kilvert wrote in his diary on 4 September 1874 of finding a
bookmark on which was embroidered in silk the words "Forget-me-not". It
was a gift from a childhood sweetheart, but he couldn't remember which
one. "I gazed at the words, conscience-stricken, Forget-me-not. And I
had forgotten."
Read the Victorian Flower Dictionary