198 iHtaboio SaSron. 
Meadow Saffron... .Tlf// best days are past. 
The Meadow Saffron, or Colchicum Autumnale, 
springs up about the time the leaves begin to fall from 
the trees, and may, therefore, be said to proclaim to all 
nature, that the bright days of summer are past. Ac- 
cording to Ovid, this autumnal flovrer owes its origin 
to some drops of the magic liquor prepared by Medea, 
to restore the aged ^son to the bloom and vigour of 
youth, which were spilled in the fields. As a medicine, 
the Colchicum is powerful, but dangerous, and must 
be used with caution. The poisonous quality of the 
plant seems to be known, as if by instinct, to all kinds 
of cattle. They all shun it, and in many pastures this 
alone will be found standing, when all other herbage 
has been consumed. 
Why grieve that time has brought so soon 
The sober age of manhood on ? 
As idly should I weep at noon 
To see the blush of morning gone. 
True, time will sear and blanch my brow : 
Well — I shall sit with aged men. 
And my good glass will tell me how 
A grisly beard becomes me then. 
And should no foul dishonour lie 
Upon my head when I am gray, 
Love yet may search my fading eye. 
And smooth the path of my decay. 
Bryant. 
