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Flower Pieces and other poems

By William Allingham: With two designs by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
  

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 VII. 
 VIII. 
 IX. 
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 XI. 
 XII. 
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PRELUDE.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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16

PRELUDE.

Likeness, ofter found than sought
Or by wit's exertion wrought,
Here 'tween two delights exprest,
In the various tinge is drest
Playing on it from affection's
Sympathizing recollections.
When you find the fancy just,
Wreathe the Blossom round the Bust.
Nor of Fancy's birth may be
Every correspondency.
Say that matter's but expansion
Of that force whose central mansion
Is the soul that each man shares,
And so each like Atlas bears
Earth on's shoulders—in his head,
Here involved, what's there outspread;
Thus each modal element
A faculty doth represent,
And the beauty creamed in Flowers
Mind's distinct poetic powers—
Poured in both from one completeness
Into various moulds of sweetness;
Say that we, in scanning over
Do not fancy, but discover
Where the Inner's like the Outer;
Then, whoe'er will be a doubter,
Let him prove it is not so.
I meantime my guesses show,
And my fellow-children bid
Search where mother's hand hath hid.