Page:Sibylline Leaves (Coleridge).djvu/195



Flower! that peeping from thy russet stem Unfoldest timidly, (for in strange sort This dark, freeze-coated, hoarse, teeth-chattering Month Hath borrow'd Zephyr's voice, and gaz'd upon thee With blue voluptuous eye) alas, poor Flower! These are but flatteries of the faithless year. Perchance, escaped its unknown polar cave, Ev'n now the keen North-East is on its way. Flower that must perish! shall I liken thee To some sweet girl of too too rapid growth Nipp'd by Consumption mid untimely charms? Or to Bristowa's Bard, the wonderous boy! An Amaranth, which Earth scarce seem'd to own, Blooming mid poverty's drear wintry waste, Till Disappointment came, and pelting wrong