FOR CHILDREN. 285

"Tis gone! (so seemed it) and we grieved
Indignant at the wrong.

Just three days after, passing by,

In clearer light the moss-built cell
I saw, espied its shaded mouth,

And felt that all was well.

The primrose for a veil had spread
The largest of her upright leaves:
And thus, for purposes benign,
A simple flower deceives.

Concealed from friends who might disturb
Thy quiet with no ill intent,

Secure from evil eyes and hands,

. On barbarous plunder bent.

Rest, mother-bird ! and when thy young
Take flight, and thou art free to room,

When withered is the guardian flower,
And empty thy late home,

Think how ye prospered, thou and thine,
Amid the anviolated grove,
Housed near the growing primrose tuft,
In foresight, or in love.
Wordsworth.

 

OH SPARE MY FLOWER!

Ou spare my flower! my gentle flower,
The slender creature of a day!

Let it bloom out its little hour,
And pass away.