Floral Poetry. 
T 35 
And ignorance, with sceptic eye, 
Hope’s patient smile shall wondering view; 
Or mock her fond credulity, 
As her soft tears the spot bedew. 
Sweet smile of hope, delicious tear, 
The sun, the shower indeed shall come; 
The promised verdant shoot appear, 
And Nature bid her blossoms bloom. 
And thou, O virgin queen of Spring, 
Shalt from thy dark and lowly bed, 
Bursting thy green sheath’s silken string, 
Unveil thy charms, and perfume shed ; 
Unfold thy robes of purest white, 
Unsullied from their darksome grave, 
And thy soft petals’ flowery light, 
In the mild breeze unfettered wave. 
So faith shall seek the lowly dust, 
Where humble sorrow loves to lie, 
And bid her thus her hopes intrust, 
And watch with patient, cheerful eye ; 
And bear the long, cold, wintry night, 
And bear her own degraded doom, 
And wait till heaven’s reviving light, 
Eternal spring ! shall burst the gloom. 
Alary Tigkc. 
