WRITTEN ON RECEIVING A BOUQUET OF THESE BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS FROM A LADY FRIEND SWEET, modest, pensive, tender flower, Though snow-drifts rise and storm-clouds lower Above thy gentle drooping head, And chill thee on thy frozen bed— Though oft thy pure, pale face appears Bedewed with cold and freezing tears, Soon from thy lids the god of day Shall kiss the chilling drops away, And crown thy green and slender stems With stainless wreath of pearly gems. Chaste, virgin flower, first-born of Spring, Thou purest, fairest, loveliest thing, Herald of all the coming flowers That star the meads and deck the bowers; Yet when sweet May comes crowned with blossom, Thou hid'st thee in thy mother's bosom, And when bright June spreads out her roses, In earth's maternal lap reposes. Emblem of innocence, in vain The howling winds and beating rain Shall wildly sweep thy wintry bed, Again thy beauteous, graceful head, Unsoiled, unsullied, shall arise In meek devotion to the skies. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LOST MISTRESS by ROBERT BROWNING OLD IRONSIDES by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES APOLOGIA PRO POEMATE MEO by WILFRED OWEN WHICH WAS MOST TRULY DEAD? by CHARLES AUGUSTIN SAINTE-BEUVE THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS MOUNT PIERUS by ANTIPATER OF SIDON PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 49. AL-MAJID by EDWIN ARNOLD |