THE POETRY IF FLOWERS, 413 
And fling it unrestrain’d and free, 
O’er hill und dale, and desert sod, 
That man, where’er he walks, may see, 
At every step, the stamp of God? 
FROM METASTASIO. 
The married are compared by the poet to the young | 
Rose, which the lover places in the bosom of his {| 
mistress, first stripped of thorns. | 
Tov virgin Rose! whose opening leaves so fair, i} 
The dawn has nourish’d with her balmy dews 
While softest whispers of the morning air : 
Call’d forth the blushes of thy vermeil hues; 

That cautious hand, which cropt thy youthful 
ae 
Transplants thy honours, where from hurt 
secure, 
Stript of each thorn offensive to thy side, 
Thy nobler part alone shall bloom mature. 
Thus thou, a flower, exempt from change of skies, 
ee stor ms oe torrents unassail’d shall rise, 
winter colds, and summer heats ; 
aithful then thy growth Saye tend, 
n blend 


rhom thou mayst in trang yuil unio 
pt a} ay ets. 
nh eter! ak sweets 

aulles Wi 


