Berries & Blossoms :: :: University of Virginia Library

Snowdrop, Snowdrop, why dost thou stay?
Greybeard Winter hath fled away,
Green grow the fields in the sunny ray,—
Snowdrop, Snowdrop, why dost thou stay?

“Just to see—oh! just to see
The first pretty Primrose of the lea!
For a Primrose-star is fairer far,
I've been told, than all sky-blossoms are—
Oh! tend me well and show me where
I may find this beauty, past compare.”

Snowdrop, Snowdrop, look this way—
In the grasses, underneath the grey
Old oak, behold the Primrose gay!
Primrose, Primrose, a moment's space—
Let little Snowdrop see your face!

“I see, I see, on the upland lea,
A sweet face smiling tenderly—
Oh! pretty Primrose, lovest thou me?
Oh! love me; let my prayer prevail!
I shall live, I shall thrive, I shall not fail,
Though I look so weary, and weak, and pale;—
Oh! love me, and I shall live to see
The blossoming almond and apple tree,
And the May-bloom woed by the honey bee!
What doth she say? Oh! what doth she say?
Will she love me well, the Primrose gay?”

Now nay, now nay, the Primrose gay
Hath given, she voweth, her love away;
Troth-bound is she to the Violet,
And oh! poor Snowdrop never was yet
A flower so modest, and fresh, and fair
As the Violet, dower'd with odours rare!
Die, Snowdrop, die, ere the bridal day—
No love for thee hath the Primrose gay!

“I die, I die! it was always so—
Poor weeds! upspringing in winter's snow,
Lonely, so lonely! vex'd and worn,
By the bitter blasts, we live forlorn,—
There is nought that loveth us 'neath the sky,—
It was always so—I die, I die!”