| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Selected Sonnets.
VI. The Hawthorn and the Wild Rose | | By Richard Wilton (1827–1903) |
| | | I LEARNT a lesson from the flowers to-day:— | |
| As o’er the fading hawthorn-blooms I sighed, | |
| Whose petals fair lay scattered far and wide, | |
| Lo, suddenly upon a dancing spray | |
| I saw the first wild roses clustered gay. | 5 |
| What though the smile I loved, so soon had died | |
| From one sweet flower—there, shining at its side | |
| The blushing Rose surpassed the snowy May. | |
| So, if as life glides on, we miss some flowers | |
| Which once shed light and fragrance on our way | 10 |
| Yet still the kindly-compensating hours | |
| Weave us fresh wreaths in beautiful array; | |
| And long as in the paths of peace we stay, | |
| Successive benedictions shall be ours! | | | | |
|
|
