Mrs. Elizabeth Clementine Kinney (1810–1889)

WEEDS grow unasked, and even some sweet flowers

Spontaneous give their fragrance to the air,

And bloom on hills, in vales, and everywhere,

As shines the sun, or fall the summer showers,

But wither while our lips pronounce them fair!

Flowers of more worth repay alone the care,

The nurture, and the hopes of watchful hours.

While plants most cultured have most lasting powers.

So, flowers of Genius that will longest live

Spring not in Mind’s uncultivated soil,

But are the birth of time, and mental toil,

And all the culture Learning’s hand can give:

Fancies, like wild-flowers, in a night may grow;

But thoughts are plants whose stately growth is slow.