 | The harp and plow |  |
81
TO A WILD ROSE.
Sweet offspring of the solitude!
Dost in this lonely spot elude
The wanton gaze and notice rude
Of vulgar eyes?
Hear me, if I on thee intrude,
Apologize!
Dost in this lonely spot elude
The wanton gaze and notice rude
Of vulgar eyes?
Hear me, if I on thee intrude,
Apologize!
No rival, tender-hearted fair,
Made thy young growth her willing care,
Nor hid thee when the frosty air
Spread winter wide;
Or marks thee blooming rich and rare
In flowery pride.
Made thy young growth her willing care,
Nor hid thee when the frosty air
Spread winter wide;
Or marks thee blooming rich and rare
In flowery pride.
Deep in the woodland, wild to view,
Flora, lone-straying, planted you;
Mild Vesper wet with gentle dew,
The teeming earth,
And Phœbus peeped the foliage through
To hail thy birth.
Flora, lone-straying, planted you;
Mild Vesper wet with gentle dew,
The teeming earth,
And Phœbus peeped the foliage through
To hail thy birth.
82
Near thee, in ever watchful mood,
The partridge trains her little brood;
And pussy comes o'er many a rood,
With dewy feet,
To mingle with her morning food
Thy fragrance sweet.
The partridge trains her little brood;
And pussy comes o'er many a rood,
With dewy feet,
To mingle with her morning food
Thy fragrance sweet.
Sweet little rose! thou mindest me
Of innocence and modesty;
Apart the world, and lone, like thee,
They, too, are raised
Beneath some cottage-sheltering tree,
Unknown, unpraised.
Of innocence and modesty;
Apart the world, and lone, like thee,
They, too, are raised
Beneath some cottage-sheltering tree,
Unknown, unpraised.
Emblem of worth—(alas, how true!)
That in retirement, veiled from view,
Gives to its poor unnoticed few,
A conscience clean;
Then in the spot whereon it grew,
It dies unseen!
That in retirement, veiled from view,
Gives to its poor unnoticed few,
A conscience clean;
Then in the spot whereon it grew,
It dies unseen!
| The harp and plow | |