Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/319

197 FLOWER-FANTASIES.

(LOBELIA FULGENS—CARDINAL FLOWER.)

ye whose eyes now rest upon my page

Read souls in flowers?

Do ye delight to fancifully trace,

In the bright bowers

Of clustered blossoms that in gardens are,

Semblance of things as radiant and fair?

Ye should be "high fantastical," to feel,

With perfect zest,

All the fine subtle fancies, that like dreams

Softly invest

The thought and memory of each bright bud

That we do cull in forest, field, or flood.

Oh! there is music to the spirit's ear

In every sigh

Heaved by the roses bosom to the air

That winnows by;

And there is poetry in every leaf,

Whose blush speaks pleasure, or whose tears tell grief.