A Celebration of Women Writers

"The Violet to the Rose." by Jane Taylor (1783-1824)
Publication: The Writings of Jane Taylor, In Five Volumes by Jane Taylor. Volume I, Memoirs and Poetical Remains.. Edited by Isaac Taylor, Jr., of Stanford Rivers. Boston: Perkins & Marvin, 1832. pp. 324-325.

Editor: Mary Mark Ockerbloom

[Page 324] 

THE VIOLET TO THE ROSE.

ENCLOSED in the shade of a forest profound,
  Where silence and solitude reign,
In colors diversified, scattered around,
A little wild hamlet of flowers was found,
  The peasants of Flora's domain.

There blue-bells, and daisies, and primroses grew,
  From tumult and vanity far:
Their pleasures were simple–their wishes were few,
They sipped every morning fresh draughts of the dew,
  And slept with the evening star.

Amid the wild group, in this peaceful recess,
  A Violet peeped from the earth;
But lately indeed she had altered her dress;
And some in the hamlet had reason to guess,
  She was but a cowslip by birth.

While they with the breezes at play might be seen,
  Refusing to join in the sport,
She sighed for the garden where Rosa was queen,
And despised her pale crest, and her trappings of green,
  When she heard of the splendors at court.

And often at night the disconsolate maid
  Lamented, by others unseen;
Till a fairy from court who frequented the glade,
Overheard the complaint that poor Violet made,
  And told it again to the queen.

[Page 325] 

Kind Rosa was melted:–"My fairy," said she,
  "Again you must hasten away,
For none of my subjects unhappy shall be;
So bear this encouraging message from me,
  To make my poor Violet gay.

"Go tell her, assured of our royal support,
  No longer in sorrow to bend;
Entreat her to smile and to join in their sport,
For that blue is a favorite color at court,
  And Rosa, the queen, is her friend."

Away, on a moonbeam, her message to tell,
  The tiny ambassadress sped:
'T was night when she reached little Violet's dell,
But each nodding rustic unfolded his bell,
  To hear what Queen Rosa had said.

The Violet trembled such honors to share,
  And blushed for her folly and pride;
Yet pleased that a queen so enchantingly fair
Should deign for a poor simple peasant to care,
  She thus to the fairy replied:–

"Return gentle spirit–for Rosa will own
  The tear that from gratitude flows;
And tell her that here, in her hamlet alone,
Violetta will study, unseen and unknown,
Those virtues that sweetly embellish the throne,
  And love her fair sovereign–the Rose."

    1809.

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Editor: Mary Mark Ockerbloom