Moral Pieces, in Prose and Verse/Dedication for a Book of Poetical Extracts to a Friend

by Lydia Sigourney

DEDICATION FOR A BOOK OF POETICAL EXTRACTS, TO A FRIEND.

TO aid the garland yet untwin'd,
    And gently swell this budding wreath,
A wild and mountain flow'r I bind,
    And o'er its leaves the lyre shall breathe,

And as you seek for varying sweets,
    The future chaplet to compose,
Tread lightly o'er those lone retreats,
    Where genius hides, and beauty glows.

Ask from the opening rose its bloom,
    Ask of its buds their tissued fold,
Seek the meek violet's perfume,
    And bow to cull the snow drop cold.

Choose freely from the gay parterre,
    Or groves where oaks their shadows cast,
And climb the cliff where high in air,
    The evergreen endures the blast.

From cold recess where forests wave,
    Pluck the wild laurel bold and free,
And gather from the Christian's grave
    The cypress and the rosemary.

And blend with these the varying stalks,
    That fancy's hand in sport may strew,
Or wisdom scatter in her walks,
    Or pity bring all damp with dew.

And if you rove in lonely hour,
    Where rudely rocks on rocks are pil'd,
Perhaps some unexpected flow'r
    May pour its sweetness on the wild.

But all in vain this anxious round,
    In vain the sweets by genius given,
Unless with these that flow'r is found,
    Whose rich perfume ascends to Heav'n.

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