University of Virginia Library


103

WALL-FLOWERS ON THE CLIFF.

Where the wall-flowers grow
Many come and go;
Rich and poor men pass,
Lover, too, and lass;
Children at their play,
Heads careworn and grey.
Naught of all that go
Do the wall-flowers know;
Yet their perfumes reach
To the heart of each—
Win one moment's share
In each passer there.

104

Droop thy head and go,
Poet, from the show!
Man thou art, not flower;
Decade liv'st, not hour;
Reason hast, and will,
Sympathy and skill.
Yet what canst thou know
More of all that go?
Could thy verse but reach
To the heart of each,
As the wall-flowers' scent,
What were thy content!