33 
As the lark amongst birds when it chants its blithe 
strain, 
As the lamb when it sports ’mid the flocks of the plain, 
Such art thou amongst flowers, the blithest of all, 
On which sunbeams are shining, or dewdrops do fall. 
Give the rosebud to Beauty; for Innocence fair 
Let the lily a chaplet like snow-wreath prepare; 
But though beauty and innocence both meet in thee, 
Sweet Cheerfulness claims thee her emblem to be. 
How joy’d I to greet thee in childhood’s gay hours, 
When I wandered light-hearted in search of spring 
flowers ! 
Though the violet and primrose I own’d were more rare, 
Yet the garland ne’er pleased me till thou didst bloom 
there. 
That season of brightness has fled long ago, 
And Sorrow her finger has pass’d o’er my brow; 
Yet I never now meet thee in spring’s balmy hour, 
But thou seem’st for one moment' those days to restore. 
D 
