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But Flora's characters exprest
The wishes of each blameless breast,
And saved a world of lover's sighs,
Of blushes bright, and down-cast eyes.
First the pure bud, whose soft leaves swell
Enclos'd within their mossy cell,
Of infant love the fair one tell:
And next appears the half-blown rose,
Whose radiance like her beauty glows,
And still encreasing passion shows:
Till in the full-expanded flow'r,
Triumphant love proclaims his pow'r.
The wishes of each blameless breast,
And saved a world of lover's sighs,
Of blushes bright, and down-cast eyes.
First the pure bud, whose soft leaves swell
Enclos'd within their mossy cell,
Of infant love the fair one tell:
And next appears the half-blown rose,
Whose radiance like her beauty glows,
And still encreasing passion shows:
Till in the full-expanded flow'r,
Triumphant love proclaims his pow'r.
If then gay Flora's fragrant race
Can changeful love's gradations trace,—
Love! ever varying, ebbing, flowing,
Sinking in woe, with rapture glowing,—
Calm friendship surely may employ
These tokens sweet of grief or joy.
Can changeful love's gradations trace,—
Love! ever varying, ebbing, flowing,
Sinking in woe, with rapture glowing,—
Calm friendship surely may employ
These tokens sweet of grief or joy.
