THE DANDELION. 53 Thou art my tropics and mine Italy; To look at thee unlocks a warmer clime e; The eyes thou givest me Are in the heart, and heed not space or time; Not in mid-June, the golden cuirassed bee His conquered Sybaris, than I, when first Then think I of deep shadows on the grass,— The gleaming rushes lean a thousand ways;— Some woodland gap,—and of a sky above Where one white cloud like a stray lamb doth move. My childhood's earliest thoughts are linked with thee; The sight of thee calls back the robin's song, Who, from the dark oak tree Beside the door, sang clearly all day long, And I, secure in childish piety, Listened as if I heard an angel sing With news from heaven, which he did bring Fresh every day to my untainted ears, When birds and flowers and I were happy peers. Of heaven, and could some wondrous secret show, And with a child's undoubting wisdom look To the Snow-Drop. Barry Cornwall. PRETTY firstling of the year! Herald of the host of flowers! Hast thou left thy cavern drear, In the hope of summer hours? Back unto thy earthen bowers! Back to thy warm world below, Till the strength of suns and showers Quell the now relentless snow. Art still here?—Alive and blythe? Ah! some lie amidst the dead, (Many a giant stubborn tree, Many a plant, the Spirit shed,) That were better nursed than thee! 56 BARRY CORNWALL. What hath saved thee? Thou wast not 'Gainst the arrowy Winter furred,— Armed in scale, but all forgot When the frozen winds were stirred. Nature, deep and mystic word! If 'twere but to pierce the mind Who shall deem thee harsh or blind? From the Snow-Drop,-reader wise! On the ground or in the skies! The Violet. Anonymous. I LOVE all things the seasons bring, All buds that start, all birds that sing, All leaves, from white to jet; All the sweet words that Summer sends, I love, how much I love the rose, The lily paler than the moon, The odorous wondrous world of June, Yet more-the Violet! She comes, the first, the fairest thing, She dwells behind her leafy screen, And gives, as Angels give, unseen, |