12 INTRODUCTION. 
The blooms of time their course describe, 
And wake and sleep appointed hours. 
Broad o’er its imbricated cap, 
The goat’s-beard spreads its golden rays, 
But shuts its cautious petals up, 
Retreating from the noontiderblaze. 
Pale as a pensive cloistered nun, 
The Bethlehem star her face unveils, 
When o’er the mountain peers the sun.j 
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 rayed 
With young Aurora’s rosy hue, 
Are to the noontide sun displayed, 
But shut their plaits against the dew. 
