“Milkweed” by Mary Frances Carpenter Paschall, 1900. Part of a collection of “artistic photographs” by early women photographers donated to the Library of Congress by Frances Benjamin Johnston.
. . . I look down now. It is all changed.
Whatever it was I lost, whatever I wept for
Was a wild, gentle thing, the small dark eyes
Loving me in secret.
It is here. At a touch of my hand,
The air fills with delicate creatures
From the other world.— James Wright, “Milkweed,” The Branch Will Not Break
enclos*ure 
Beautiful photo, and the poem is by one of my favorite poets. Thank you!
I was so happy to find the picture, tucked back in the FBJ collection. I haven’t been able to find a bio. of the photographer yet though.
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