Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/64

22 TO A VIOLET,

GATHERED ON CHRISTMAS DAY.

child of the Spring,

Loved gem of the year,

Why thy fragrance fling

Amid winter drear?

Each kindred flower hath veiled her head,

E'en the Autumn daisy is closed and dead.

Dost come because Summer's bright laughing sky

Can no more with thy sapphire radiance vie?

Nor when breathing thy scent through the leafless vale,

No roses their rival perfumes exhale?

And com'st thou, loved flower, mine eyes to greet,

Because thou art alone, the fair—the sweet?