Musk Rose

As late I rambled in the happy fields,

What time the skylark shakes the tremulous dew

From his lush clover covert; when anew

Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields:

I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,

A fresh-blown musk-rose, 'twas the first that threw

Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew

As in the wand that Queen Titania wields.

And as I feasted on its fragrancy,

I thought the garden-rose it far excelled:

But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me

My sense with their deliciousness was spelled:

Soft voices had they, that with tender plea

Whispered of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquelled.

Done