Flower Pieces and other poems By William Allingham: With two designs by Dante Gabriel Rossetti |
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THE CHOICE. |
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 | Flower Pieces and other poems |  |
29
THE CHOICE.
Now let me choose a native blossom,
Ere I quit the sunny fields,
Fittest for my Lucy's bosom,
Hill, or brake, or meadow yields.
Ere I quit the sunny fields,
Fittest for my Lucy's bosom,
Hill, or brake, or meadow yields.
Flag or Poppy I'll not gather,
Briony or Pimpernel;
Scented Thyme or sprouting Heather,
Though they please me both so well.
Briony or Pimpernel;
Scented Thyme or sprouting Heather,
Though they please me both so well.
Purpling Vetches, crimson Clover,
Pea-bloom winglets, pied and faint,
Bluebell, Windflow'r, pass them over;
Sober Mallow, Orchis quaint.
Pea-bloom winglets, pied and faint,
Bluebell, Windflow'r, pass them over;
Sober Mallow, Orchis quaint.
Striped Convolvulus in hedges,
Columbine, and Mountain-Pink;
Lilies, floating seen through sedges,
Violets nestling by the brink;
Columbine, and Mountain-Pink;
Lilies, floating seen through sedges,
Violets nestling by the brink;
Creamy Elder, blue Germander,
Betony that seeks the shade;
Nor where Honeysuckles wander
May that luscious balm persuade.
Betony that seeks the shade;
Nor where Honeysuckles wander
May that luscious balm persuade.
Sad Forget-me-not's a token
Full of partings and mishaps;
Leave the Foxglove spire unbroken,
Lest the Fairies want for caps.
Full of partings and mishaps;
Leave the Foxglove spire unbroken,
Lest the Fairies want for caps.
Crimson Loose-strife, Crowfoot, Pansy,
Golden Gorse, or golden Broom,
Eyebright cannot fix my fancy,
Nor the Meadowsweet's perfume.
Golden Gorse, or golden Broom,
Eyebright cannot fix my fancy,
Nor the Meadowsweet's perfume.
30
Azure, scarlet, pink or pearly,
Rustic friends in field or grove,
Each of you I prize full dearly,
None of you is for my Love.
Rustic friends in field or grove,
Each of you I prize full dearly,
None of you is for my Love.
Wild-Rose! delicately flushing
All the border of the dale—
Art thou like a pale cheek blushing,
Or a red cheek turning pale?
All the border of the dale—
Art thou like a pale cheek blushing,
Or a red cheek turning pale?
Is it sorrow? is it gladness?
Lover's hopes, or lover's fears?
Or a most delicious sadness,
Mingled up of smiles and tears?
Lover's hopes, or lover's fears?
Or a most delicious sadness,
Mingled up of smiles and tears?
Come!—no silky leaflet shaken—
To a breast as pure and fair;
Come! and thoughts more tender waken
Than thy fragrant spirit there.
To a breast as pure and fair;
Come! and thoughts more tender waken
Than thy fragrant spirit there.
| Flower Pieces and other poems | |