236 THE POESY OF FLOWERS. 



TO THE TRAILING ARBUTUS * 



Thou comest when Spring her coronal weaves, 

 And thou hidest thyself mid dead strewn leaves; 

 Where the young grass lifts its tender blade, 

 Thy home and thy resting-place are made; 

 And in the spot of thy lowly birth, 

 Unseen, thou bloomest, like modest worth: 

 The richest jewel, the rarest gem 

 May never glow in a diadem. 



What knowest thou of the glittering pride 

 Of vales that blush, like a jewelled bride 

 When the pomp of roses and gilded flowers 

 Springs mid the falling of Summer showers ? 

 What canst thou know of those breathing skies, 

 Adorned with the diamonds of paradise 

 Or the sunrise crown, or the golden flow 

 Of noontide streams in their deep warm glow? 



Thou comest from Winter's cold caress, 

 To rejoice in the young Spring's loveliness: 

 But thou seest the sky when the cloud appears, 

 And the blue eye of heaven is dim with tears, 

 And, cold and clear, o'er thy dewy bed 

 The starbeam lustre of night is shed; 

 And no bright-tinting flashes are seen, 

 Though morn be cloudless and eve serene. 



Yet, flower of modesty, born alone 

 When the leaves of Autumn still lie strown, 

 Art thou not dearer, in Spring's first prime, 

 Than the fairest rose of the Summer time ? 

 Thus in her pathway of joy and light, 

 Away from the idle gazer's sight, 

 'T is meet that Beauty should pass her hour, 

 Lonely and modest, like thee, sweet flower! 



P. Benjamin. 



* The Trailing Arbntus is a sort of strawberry vine, found in 

 New England in March, the earliest of all spring flowers. 



