Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/32

 'Midst which they seemed to look and laugh at us?

Oh! I can now recall th' unthrift delight

That filled my basket and my tiny hands

With buttercups, that shone in burnished gold,

And daisies, with their rose-tipped silvery rays

Spreading around the yellow boss within—

And some, most prized, that had not yet displayed

Their fairy circle, but emerging new

From their green hermitage, seemed as they blushed

Beneath the ardent sun's admiring gaze:—

And then, the treasure housed, with what proud care

The simple buds were ranged in vase or cup,—

Nothing to us too costly for their use,—

And set in sunny window with strict care

That none molest our wealth.

Aye, we were rich

In those young, innocent days—rich in our love

Of the not unveiled world—rich in our faith

That all was as it seemed—that life was truth.

Rich in its ignorance is infancy,

And every added year but makes more poor,

By added knowledge, childhood's guileless wealth—

The wealth of an unblighted, unchilled soul.

never lose their charm. When older grown,

See a child working in his little plot

Of garden ground; and, if you chance to stand,