This page has been validated.
128
THE VISION OF VIOLETS.
"They have escaped from the covetous hands
Which wove them in many a diadem,
To crown loose tresses or braided bands,—
Leaf and blossom and tender stem;
The children who twined them in wilting strands,
And the careless feet which trampled them.
Which wove them in many a diadem,
To crown loose tresses or braided bands,—
Leaf and blossom and tender stem;
The children who twined them in wilting strands,
And the careless feet which trampled them.
"The lawless butterfly's piracy
Shall drain no longer their honey-store;
No stain shall sully their purity,
No storm affright them with rush and roar;
Aud the thirsty moth, and the pilfering bee
Shall never trouble them any more!"
Shall drain no longer their honey-store;
No stain shall sully their purity,
No storm affright them with rush and roar;
Aud the thirsty moth, and the pilfering bee
Shall never trouble them any more!"
And thus we left them; but still for me
Does that fair island the vision keep,—
Still on the orchard the rose-hues be,
And still in the shadow the sweet airs sleep;
And under the blossomed boughs I see
The violets clustering ankle-deep.
Does that fair island the vision keep,—
Still on the orchard the rose-hues be,
And still in the shadow the sweet airs sleep;
And under the blossomed boughs I see
The violets clustering ankle-deep.
