SNOWDROP. 
23 
But, as she wept, an angel bent 
His way adown the firmament, 
And, on a task of mercy sent, 
He raised her up, and bade her cheer 
Her drooping heart, and banish fear: 
And catching, as he gently spake, 
A flake of falling snow, 
He breathed on it, and bade it take 
A form, and bud and blow; 
And, ere the flake had reached the earth, 
Eve smiled upon the beauteous birth, 
That seemed amid the general dearth 
Of living things, a greater prize 
Than all her flowers in Paradise. 
“ This is an earnest, Eve, to thee,” 
The glorious angel said, 
“ That sun and summer soon shall be; 
And though the leaves seem dead, 
Yet once again the smiling spring, 
With wooing winds shall swiftly bring 
New life to every sleeping thing: 
Until they wake and make the scene 
Look fresh again and gaily green.” 
The angel’s mission being ended, 
Up to heaven he flew, 
But where he first descended, 
And where he bade the earth adieu, 
A ring of snowdrops formed a posy 
Of pallid flowers, whose leaves, unrosy, 
Waved like a winged argosy,— 
Whose climbing masts, above the sea, 
Spread fluttering sail and streamer free. 
