FABLES OF FLORA. 123 
4 Far in a sheltered nook 
I’ve met, in these calm days, a smiling flower, 
A lonely Aster , trembling by a brook, 
At the quiet noontide’s hour; 
And something told my mind, 
That should old age to childhood call me back, 
Some sunny days and flowers I still might find 
Along life’s weary track.’ J. H. Bryant. 
4 On the hill the golden-rod, 
And the Aster in the wood, 
And the yellow sunflower by the brook, 
In autumn beauty stood, 
Till fell the frost from the clear, cold heaven, 
As falls the plague on men; 
And the brightness of their smile was gone 
From upland, glade, and glen.’ 
W. C. Bryant. 
FABLE XXXVI. 
The Aster. 
Among the leaves that, gorgeous-hued, 
Like fragments of a rainbow fell, 
O’er all the carpet of the wood, 
And o’er the open grassy swell, 
A servant of that truth divine, 
"Which Jesus preached in old Judea, 
Went seeking for some lonely shrine, 
To ‘ weep the unavailing tear.’ 
/• 
