THE NIGHT-SHADE. 
BARRY CORNWALL. 
Tread aside from my starry bloom! 
I am the nurse who feed the tomb 
(The tomb, my child) 
With dainties plied 
Until it grows strong as a tempest wild. 
Trample not on a virgin flower! 
I am the maid of the midnight hour; 
I bear sweet sleep 
To those who weep, 
And lie on their eyelids dark and deep. 
Tread not thou on my snaky eyes ! 
I am the worm that the weary prize, 
The Nile’s soft asp, 
That they strive to grasp, 
And one that a queen has loved to clasp ! 
Pity me ! I am she whom man 
Hath hated since ever the world began; 
I sooth his brain, 
In the night of pain, 
But at morning he waketh—and all is vain 
