THE POWER OF HERBS 51 



The clouds might give abundant rain ; 



The nightly dews might fall. 

 And the herb that keepeth life in man 



Might yet have drunk them all. 



Then wherefore, wherefore were they made, 



All dyed with rainbow light, 

 All fashioned with supremest grace, 



Upspringing day and night : 



Springing in valleys green and low, 



And on the mountains high, 

 And in the silent wilderness 



Where 110 man passes by ? 



Our outward life requires them not 



Then wherefore had they birth ? 

 To minister delight to man, 



To beautify the earth ; 



To comfort man to whisper hope, 



Whene'er his faith is dim ; 

 For whoso careth for the flowers 



Will much more care for him. 



MARY HOWITT. 



THE POWER OF HERBS 



(From " Romeo and Juliet ") 



THE earth, that's nature's mother, is her tomb ; 

 What is her burying grave, that is her womb : 

 And from her womb, children of divers kinds 

 We sucking on her natural bosom find ; 



