I. THE Wall-flower—the Wall-flower, How beautiful it blooms! It gleams above the ruined tower, Like sunlight over tombs; It sheds a halo of repose Around the wrecks of time. To beauty give the flaunting rose, The Wall-flower is sublime. II. Flower of the solitary place! Grey ruin's golden crown, That lendest melancholy grace To haunts of old renown; Thou mantlest o'er the battlement, By strife or storm decayed; And fillest up each envious rent Time's canker-tooth hath made. III. Thy roots outspread the ramparts o'er, Where, in war's stormy day, Percy or Douglas ranged of yore Their ranks in grim array; The clangour of the field is fled, The beacon on the hill No more through midnight blazes red, But thou art blooming still! IV. Whither hath fled the choral band That fill'd the Abbey's nave? Yon dark sepulchral yew-trees stand O'er many a level grave. In the belfry's crevices, the dove Her young brood nurseth well, While thou, lone flower! dost shed above A sweet decaying smell. V. In the season of the tulip-cup, When blossoms clothe the trees, How sweet to throw the lattice up, And scent thee on the breeze; The butterfly is then abroad, The bee is on the wing, And on the hawthorn by the road The linnets sit and sing. VI. Sweet Wall-flower—sweet Wall-flower! Thou conjurest up to me Full many a soft and sunny hour Of boyhood's thoughtless glee; When joy from out the daisies grew, In woodland pastures green, And summer skies were far more blue, Than since they e'er have been. VII. Now autumn's pensive voice is heard Amid the yellow bowers, The robin is the regal bird, And thou the queen of flowers; He sings on the laburnum trees, Amid the twilight dim, And Araby ne'er gave the breeze Such scents, as thou to him. VIII. Rich is the pink, the lily gay, The rose is summer's guest; Bland are thy charms when these decay, Of flowers—first, last, and best! There may be gaudier in the bower, And statelier on the tree; But Wall-flower—loved Wall-flower, Thou art the flower for me! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ENVOYS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE BALLAD OF CHRISTMAS by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE SAILING BEYOND SEAS (OLD STYLE) by JEAN INGELOW CARELESS LINES ON LABOUR by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE MOTHER'S LAMENT by ST. CLAIR ADAMS PETITION OF A SCHOOLBOY TO HIS FATHER by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD |