THE NIGHT-SHADE. 



BARRY CORNWALL. 



Tread aside from my starry bloom ! 

 I am the nurse who feed the tomb 



(The tomb, my child) 



With dainties plied 

 Until it grows strong as a tempest wild., 



Trample not on a virgin flower! 



1 am the maid of the midnight hour ; 



I bear sweet sleep 



To those who weep. 

 And lie on their eyelids dark and deep. 



Tread not thou on my snaky eyes ! 

 I am the worm that the ^^ eary prize, 



The Nile's soft asp, 



That they strive to grasp, 

 And one that a queen has loved to clasp ! 



Pity me ! I am she whom man 



Hath hated since ever the world began ; 



I sooth his brain. 



In the night of pain. 

 But at morning he waketh— and all is vain ! 



