384 WILD FLOWERS OF 



TO THE PARNASSIA PALUSTRIS. 

 (Grass of Parnassus.} 



By the brink of the fountain, sweet flow'r 

 I saw thee for one happy hour ; 



In thy bridal array, 



How beauteous, I say, 



Was thy spotless display 

 Midst the streamlet's perpetual pour. 



I had never beheld thee before 



So fair on the rough barren moor ; 



Like a thought from above, 



Like a vision of Love, 



Among flowers a dove, 

 Was thy aspect on Windrush's shore. 



Still fair in the wane of the year 

 Thy petals and nectaries appear ; 



Oh ! delectable sight 



To behold thee in white, 



While upon thee alight 

 The gay red or blue butterflies near. 



As a beautiful vision, I think 



Of thy blossoms on Windrush's brink ; 



In that wildly lone dell 



As if bound by a spell, 



I shall oft seem to dwell, 

 Giving Memory a fair silver link. 



this favoured spot are, as from the altar of a Deity, lavishly poured out for 

 her enrichment, and as a tribute for her to bear away and consign to the 

 friendly embrace of the silver Isis. The springs at this spot (rather eight than 

 seven) rush from the bowel s of the oolitic hill with considerable force splash- 

 ing and murmuring down the steep descent very prettily, but soon spread 

 themselves in the marsh below, which is densely overgrown with various 

 species of Blysmus, Juncus, Carex, and other aquatic plants, located on 

 pretty islets, while the marsh filled to repletion at length pours forth its 

 redundance into the clear Windrush, which decorated with the bright 

 flowers of the Forget-me-Not, and half filled with Potamogetons, flows 

 silently beside it. On the adjacent hill side the very rare Thlaspi perfoli- 

 atum grows, and the Pasque-flower in its season flourishes abundantly. 



