Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/296

190 FOXGLOVES AND FERN.

The Foxgloves and the Fern,

How gracefully they grow

With grand old oaks above them,

And wavy grass below!

The stately trees stand round

Like columns fair and high,

And the spreading branches bear

A glorious canopy

Of leaves, that rustling wave

In the whispering summer air

And gaily greet the sunbeams

That are falling brightly there.

The miser-leaves!—they suffer

Not a gleam to twinkle through,

And in the Foxglove's hairy cup,

At noonday, drops of dew

Are hanging round like tears

Of sorrow, that the sun

Gives to other flowers his kisses

But to her soft lips not one—

Yet are they wondrous sweet,

As the honey-bee knows well,

When murmuring all busily,

Hid in each purple bell