Sit and watch by her side an hour.
That is her book-shelf, this her bed;
She plucked that piece of geranium-flower,
Beginning to die too, in the glass;
Little has yet been changed, I think:
The shutters are shut, no light may pass
Save two long rays thro' the hinge's chink.
But the time will come,---at last it will
When, Evelyn Hope, hat meant (I shall say)
In the lower earth, in the years long still,
That body and soul so pure and gay?
Why your hair was amber, I shall divine,
And your mouth of your own geranium's red---
And what you would do with me, in fine,
In the new lifecome in the old one's stead.
Robert Browning, 1812-1889
Found in most parts of the world, the Geranium's botanical name comes from the Greek word "geranos", meaning a crane, for the fruit of the plant resembles a crane's beak., hence the nickname Cranesbill.
Geraniums are said to have been given their color by Mohammed who left his clothes todry on a bed of mallow. The flowers blushed with dark red with pride and never lost their color, and have been know as geraniums ever since.
Often seen in the Mediterranean region tumbling out of terracotta pots and downpainted stone walls their color creates a festive mood.
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