William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Georgian Verse. 1909.
The RoseWilliam Cowper (17311800)
T
Which Mary to Anna conveyed,
The plentiful moisture encumbered the flower,
And weighed down its beautiful head.
And it seemed, to a fanciful view,
To weep for the buds it had left with regret
On the flourishing bush where it grew.
For a nosegay, so dripping and drowned;
And swinging it rudely, too rudely, alas!
I snapped it—it fell to the ground.
Some act by the delicate mind,
Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart
Already to sorrow resigned!
Might have bloomed with its owner awhile;
And the tear that is wiped with a little address
May be followed perhaps by a smile.’