Signor Topsy-Turvy's wonderful magic lantern or The World turned upside down. By the author of "My Mother," and other poems [Ann and Jane Taylor]. Illustrated with twenty-four engravings |
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THE DISCONTENTED VIOLET.
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 | Signor Topsy-Turvy's wonderful magic lantern |  |
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THE DISCONTENTED VIOLET.
A violet who blossomed gay
Beneath a hedge of prickly may,
Condemn'd upon her stalk to linger,
No taller than one's little finger;
With nothing but her gentle smell,
Her place of residence to tell;
But young in days, in wisdom younger,
For public fame began to hunger.
Beneath a hedge of prickly may,
Condemn'd upon her stalk to linger,
No taller than one's little finger;
With nothing but her gentle smell,
Her place of residence to tell;
But young in days, in wisdom younger,
For public fame began to hunger.
So once upon a summer's eve,
When dews had dropp'd on every leaf,
And in the thickets over head
The birds had sung themselves to bed,
A breath of air just creeping by,
Fancied he heard a little sigh,
And being kind, and prone to pity,
Put down his wing to hear her ditty.
When dews had dropp'd on every leaf,
And in the thickets over head
The birds had sung themselves to bed,
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Fancied he heard a little sigh,
And being kind, and prone to pity,
Put down his wing to hear her ditty.
“Green Earth, or whosoe'er you be,
“Who had the care of forming me,
“What fame or glory could you get
“By making me a violet?
“No traveller plucks me for his own,
“My very being is unknown;
“And all the sweetness I possess,
“Is wasted on the wilderness!
“O! hear my humble prayer,” she cried,
“And make me any thing beside.”
“Who had the care of forming me,
“What fame or glory could you get
“By making me a violet?
“No traveller plucks me for his own,
“My very being is unknown;
“And all the sweetness I possess,
“Is wasted on the wilderness!
“O! hear my humble prayer,” she cried,
“And make me any thing beside.”
Green Earth the lamentation heard,
And took the violet at her word:
Before the sun had shewn his head,
She placed her on a spacious bed,
Surrounded by a level lawn,
And left her there to wait till dawn.
And took the violet at her word:
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She placed her on a spacious bed,
Surrounded by a level lawn,
And left her there to wait till dawn.
At length the shadows broke apace,
And daylight stared her in the face:
Full fronting to the southern sky
She was a sunflower, two yards high!
And not a neighbour, great or small,
Grew nearer than the garden wall.
The sun, who did not recollect her,
Look'd rudely at her to detect her,
And overcome with shame and dread,
She blush'd, but could not hang her head:
Alas! no friendly bush was nigh,
To screen her from his cruel eye;
No mossy rill, with bubble sweet,
Crept by to wash her burning feet;
And out of all the bees she knew,
Not one dropp'd in with—“How d'ye do?”
And daylight stared her in the face:
Full fronting to the southern sky
She was a sunflower, two yards high!
And not a neighbour, great or small,
Grew nearer than the garden wall.
The sun, who did not recollect her,
Look'd rudely at her to detect her,
And overcome with shame and dread,
She blush'd, but could not hang her head:
Alas! no friendly bush was nigh,
To screen her from his cruel eye;
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Crept by to wash her burning feet;
And out of all the bees she knew,
Not one dropp'd in with—“How d'ye do?”
“O! pitying mother Earth,” she cried,
“Forgive a silly creature's pride!
“Again my pretty bank permit
“To shield thy foolish violet,
“And on thy bosom evermore,
“My freshest fragrancy shall pour.”
“Forgive a silly creature's pride!
“Again my pretty bank permit
“To shield thy foolish violet,
“And on thy bosom evermore,
“My freshest fragrancy shall pour.”
Kind Earth the better wish obey'd,
And dropp'd her in her native shade.
And dropp'd her in her native shade.
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