I saw a delicate flower had grown up 2 feet high Between the horse's paths & the wheel track Which Dakin's & Maynards wagons had Passed over many a time An inch more to right or left had sealed its fate Or an inch higher. And yet it lived & flourish[e]d As much as if it had a thousand acres Of untrodden space around it ''" and never Knew the danger it incurred. It did not borrow trouble nor invite an Evil fate by apprehending it. For though the distant market-wagon Every other day ''" inevitably rolled This way ''" it just as inevitably rolled In those ruts ''" And the same Charioteer who steered the flower Upward ''" guided the horse & cart aside from it. There were other flowers which you would say Incurred less danger grew more out of the way Which no cart rattled near, no walker daily passed. But at length one rambling deviously For no rut restrained plucked them And then it appeared that they stood Directly in his way though he had come From farther than the market wagon. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE LAMB, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE A GRAMMARIAN'S FUNERAL by ROBERT BROWNING AT APRIL by ANGELINA WELD GRIMKE TO MY MOTHER SLEEPING by MARY RUSSELL MITFORD THE CARD-DEALER by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI A GENTLE ECHO ON WOMAN (IN THE DORIC MANNER) by JONATHAN SWIFT |