WHEN tender Rose-trees first receive On half-expanded Leaves, the Shower; Hope's gayest pictures we believe, And anxious watch each coining flower. Then, if beneath the genial Sun That spreads abroad the full-blown May, Two infant Stems the rest out-run, Their buds the first to meet the day, With joy their op'ning tints we view, While morning's precious moments fly: My pretty Maids, 'tis thus with _you_; The fond admiring gazer, _I_. Preserve, sweet Buds, where'er you be; The richest gem that decks a Wife; The charm of _female modesty:_ And let sweet Music give it life. Still may the favouring Muse be found: Still circumspect the paths ye tread: Plant moral truths in Fancy's ground; And meet old Age without a dread. Yet, ere that comes, while yet ye quaff The cup of Health without a pain, I'll shake my grey hairs when you laugh, And, when you sing, be young again. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE PASSING OF THE EX-SLAVE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO HELEN KELLER - HUMANITARIAN, SOCIAL DEMOCRAT, GREAT SOUL by EDWIN MARKHAM THE DISPUTE OF THE HEART AND BODY OF FRANCOIS VILLON by FRANCOIS VILLON ST. FRANCIS EINSTEIN OF THE DAFFODILS (FIRST VERSION) by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS SONNET TO LAKE LEMAN by GEORGE GORDON BYRON THE AEOLIAN HARP by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 52 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN |