MEADOW SAFFRON. 
201 
the ground, waving in the sunshine, surrounded 
by a tuft of broad leaves of the brightest green. 
The seeds ripen in May. Thus, this plant, 
reversing the accustomed order of the seasons, 
mingles its fruits with the flowers of spring, and 
its flowers with the fruits of autumn. 
Then bright from earth, amid the troubled sky. 
Ascends fair Colchicum, with radiant eye. 
Warms the cold bosom of the hoary year, 
And lights with beauty’s blaze the dusky sphere. - 
Darwin. 
