92
SONGS, LEGENDS, AND BALLADS.
They were all too frail and tender,—
And alas! my fears were true.
One glad morn I went to see them
While the bright drops gemmed their snow
And one angel flower was withered,
Its fair petals drooping low.
Its white sister's tears fell on it,
And the sunbeam sadly shone;
For its innocence was withered,
And its purity was gone.
Still I left it there: I could not
Tear it rudely from its place;
It might rise again, and summer
Might restore its vanished grace.
But my hopes grew weaker, weaker.
And my heart with grief was pained
When I knew it must be severed
From the innocence it stained.
