214 
DIAL OF FLOWERS! 
Till the bright Day-star to the west 
Declines, in Ocean’s surge to lave; 
Then, folded in her modest vest, 
She slumbers on the rocking wave. 
See Hieracium’s various tribe 
Of plumy seed and radiate flowers: 
The course of Time their blooms describe, 
And wake or sleep appointed hours. 
Broad o’er its imbricated cup 
The Goatsbeard spreads its golden rays 
But shuts its cautious petals up, 
Retreating from the noontide blaze. 
Pale as a pensive cloister’d nun, 
The Bethlem Star her face unveils, 
When o’er the mountain peers the Sun, 
But shades it from the vesper gales. 
Among the loose and arid sands 
The humble Arenaria creeps ; 
Slowly the Purple Star expands, 
But soon within its calyx sleeps. 
And those small bells so lightly ray’d 
With young Aurora’s rosy hue, 
Are to the noontide Sun display’d, 
But shut their plaits against the dew. 
