WHEN first peeps out from earth the modest vine, Asking but little space to live and grow, How easily some step, without design, May crush the being from a thing so low! But let the hand that doth delight to show Support to feebleness, the tendril twine Around some lattice-work, and 't will bestow Its thanks in fragrance, and with blossoms shine. And thus, when Genius first puts forth its shoot -- So timid that it scarce dare ask to live -- The tender germ, if trodden under foot, Shrinks back again to its undying root; While kindly training bids it upward strive, And to the future flowers immortal give. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOWN BY THE CARIB SEA: 3. TEESTAY by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON TO A BLUEBELL by EMILY JANE BRONTE STANZAS; HOOD'S LAST POEM by THOMAS HOOD SONNET: TO SLEEP by JOHN KEATS I DO NOT LOVE THEE by CAROLINE ELIZABETH SARAH SHERIDAN NORTON CHRISTMAS AT SEA by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |