EVENING PRIMROSE. 93 



flowers that grew there in all their fragrance 

 and their beauty before the sun had set, 

 but have not found them ; and so it is in 

 the green meadow, or beside the road. You 

 may not see a daisy in the grass, nor yet 

 a single hawkweed on the bank ; the bril- 

 liant goat's-beard has folded up its petals, 

 and the dandelion, that loves to cover the 

 interstices of broken pavements with its 

 ample disks, is no longer -visible. Night 

 with her broad shadows has not veiled them, 

 for there are flowers which yet look the 

 pale moon in her face, and some few there 

 are, that open only when the day has closed 

 in. They open, that such insects as love 

 the night, warmly-coated moths, and ephe- 

 mera, may drink and be refreshed, when 

 all other vegetable fountains have ceased 

 to flow, or when the guardian petals, by 

 which they are surrounded, have folded up 

 to keep them safe from all intruders. I 



