AND FLOWERS OF POETRY. 
213 
SIN DARKENS THE SMILE OF 
BEAUTY. 
UPRIGHT EIRDSNEST. 
This singular flower grows in the deepest shade. The whole 
plant is of a spotless white; but exposure to the sun almost 
instantly changes it to black. 
The young woodland main, 
She has left her wild bower, 
Where she grew in the shade, 
Like a delicate flower; 
As soft and as pure, 
Ah ! maybe as frail; 
For Rumour has whispered 
A sorrowful tale. 
They say the warm air, 
Around Pleasure’s bright spring, 
Was too much for so fair, 
And so fragile a thing: 
They say that she quaffed 
Too rashly, too long, 
And has found in the draught 
Only sorrow and wrong ! 
F. S. O. 
