Poems (Mitford)/To the Hon. Miss Murray

by Mary Russell Mitford

to THE HON. MISS MURRAY, WITH MISS ROWDEN'S "POETICAL INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY."

Charlotte! to thee, the fading gems of spring,
Immortaliz'd in Rowden's verse, I bring.
Fair as thyself, in her sweet strains appear
The varied beauties of the vernal year;
The Muse of Nature cull'd the flow'ry band,
Botanic Science touch'd them with her wand,
The hand of Modesty the garland twin'd,
And Wisdom fram'd it for the female mind,
And chose each lovely bud, and fragrant flower,
The emblems true of youth's enraptur'd hour.

 The brilliant rainbow-tints, the softer bloom,
The graceful form, the exquisite perfume,
Faded by heat, or scatter'd by the wind,
All pass away, nor "leave a wreck behind."
Yon Cistus, mark, fairest of Flora's train,
Of velvet robe, and splendid colors vain,
Whose wide-spread blossoms proudly-flaunting gleam,
Woo the bright ray, and wanton in the beam,
To-morrow's sun shall view them strew'd around,
Borne on the breeze, or with'ring on the ground:
Successive flow'rs the parent shrub illume,
And each succession finds a daily tomb.

 Alike in charms, but diff'rent far in fate,
May thy bright roses mourn no transient date!
Still may they bloom through many a golden year,
Unblanch'd by woe, "unsullied by a tear"
Fortune for thee with Nature's bounties blend!
And purest bliss thy flow'ry paths attend!