O, a Beautiful Thing Is the Flower That Fadeth!

"They cannot see the wreaths we place         Upon the silent bier,     They cannot see the tear-stained face,         Nor feel the scalding tea"

"The leafless branch and meadow sere,             The dull and leaden skies,     Join with the mournful wind and drear     In dirges for the pas"

"In forest shade my couch is made.         And there I calmly lie,     With thought confined in pensive mind,         And contemplate the sky;"

"Hope is the shadowy essence of a wish,         A fond desire which floats before our eyes;     With lurid aberration, feverish,--         We cl"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"