THE POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
109 
THE FLOWER-DIAL. 
BY MRS. HEMANS. 
'Twas a lovely thought to mark the hours, 
As they floated in light away, 
By the opening and the folding flowers, 
That laugh to the summer’s day. 
Thus had each moment its own rich hue, 
And its graceful cup and bell, 
In whose colour’d vase might sleep the dew, 
Like a peail in an ocean shell. 
To such sweet signs might the time have flow'd 
In a golden current on, 
Ere from the garden, man’s first abode, 
The glorious guests were gone. 
So might the days have been brightly told— 
Those days of song and dreams,— 
When shepherds gather’d their flocks of old, 
By the blue Arcadian streams. 
So in those isles of delight, that rest 
Far off in a breezeless main, 
Which many a bark, with a weary quest, 
Has sought, but still in vain. 
