Pansies, Lilies, Kingcups, Daisies, Let them live upon their praises; Long as there’s a sun that sets, Primroses will have their glory; Long as there are Violets, They will have a place in story: There’s a flower that shall be mine, ’Tis the little Celandine. Eyes of some men travel far For the finding of a star; Up and down the heavens they go, Men that keep a mighty rout! I’m as great as they, I trow, Since the day I found thee out, Little flower!--I’ll make a stir, Like a great astronomer. Modest, yet withal an elf, Bold, and lavish of thyself, Since we needs must first have met I have seen thee, high and low, Thirty years or more, and yet ’Twas a face I did not know: Thou hast now, go where I may, Fifty greetings in a day. Ere a leaf is on the bush, In the time before the thrush Has a thought about its nest, Thou wilt come with half a call, Spreading out thy glossy breast Like a careless prodigal; Telling tales about the sun, When there’s little warmth or none. _Wordsworth._ * * * * * Shakspeare regarded the Violet as the emblem of constancy, as the following occurs in one of his sonnets:-- Violet is for faithfulness, Which in me shall abide; Hoping, likewise, that from your heart You will not let it slide. _Shakspeare._ * * * * * The Violet in her greenwood bower, Where birchen boughs with hazles mingle, May boast herself the fairest flower, In glen, or copse, or forest dingle. _Scott._ * * * * *