POEMS WRITTEN IN 1820 THE SENSITIVE-PLANT. PART I. A SENSITIVE-PLANT in a garden grew, And the Spring arose on the garden fair, But none ever trembled and panted with bliss In the garden, the field, or the wilderness, Like a doe in the noon-tide with love's sweet want. As the companionless Sensitive-Plant. The snowdrop, and then the violet, Arose from the ground with warm rain wet, Then the pied wind-flowers and the tulip tall, And the Naiad-like lily of the vale, Whom youth makes so fair and passion so pale That the light of its tremulous bells is seen Through their pavilions of tender green; And the hyacinth purple, and white, and blue, Which flung from its bells a sweet peal anew Of music so delicate, soft, and intense, It was felt like an odour within the sense; And the rose like a nymph to the bath addrest, Which unveiled the depth of her glowing breast, Till, fold after fold, to the fainting air The soul of her beauty and love lay bare; And the wand-like lily, which lifted up, As a Manad, its moonlight-coloured cup, Gazed through the clear dew on the tender sky; And the jessamine faint, and the sweet tube rose, The sweetest flower for scent that blows; |