THE DAHLIA.
I
I've heard there once was a terrible fight,
For precedence in Flora's bowers;
From sprigs of quality turning their back
Upon what they deem'd commoner flowers;
Oh great was the struggle! exotics toss'd
Their aristocratic heads,
And many who had been inclined to shoot
Were obliged to keep their beds.
II
The lily had beauty and fashion too,
'Twas own'd that she bore the bell,
And the roses are a recherché race,
As all by their cuttings may tell;
But when the fair dahlia came, she heard
A London-pride thus say—
“We nobles of botany scorn to herd
With the blossoms of Botany Bay!”
III
But when worth and modesty chance to rise,
It matters not whence they came,
For 'tis upstart folly himself who points
To his former humble name.
The dahlia family now we meet
In the most select of bowers;
Permitted to carry their heads as high
As some of the older flowers.
