To a Friend who sent me some Roses
AS late I rambled in the happy fields,
What time the sky-lark shakes the tremulous dew
From his lush clover covert;?when anew
Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields:
I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,
A fresh-blown musk-rose; ?twas the first that threw
Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew
As is the wand that queen Titania wields.
And, as I feasted on its fragrancy,
I thought the garden-rose it far excell?d:
But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me
My sense with their deliciousness was spell?d:
Soft voices had they, that with tender plea
Whisper?d of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquell?d.
John Keats