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ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students

To A Primrose

Samuel Taylor Coleridge·1772–1834
Lines:24
The first seen in the season Nitens et roboris expersTurget et insolida est: et spe delectat.- Ovid, Metam. [xv.203]. Thy smiles I note, sweet early Flower,That peeping from thy rustic bowerThe festive news to earth dost bring,A fragrant messenger of Spring. But, tender blossom, why so pale?Dost hear stern Winter in the gale?And didst thou tempt the ungentle skyTo catch one vernal glance and die? Such the wan lustre Sickness wearsWhen Health's first feeble beam appears;So languid are the smiles that seekTo settle on the care-worn cheek, When timorous Hope the head uprears,Still drooping and still moist with tears,If, through dispersing grief, be seenOf Bliss the heavenly spark serene. And sweeter far the early blow,Fast following after storms of Woe,Than (Comfort's riper season come)Are full-blown joys and Pleasure's gaudy bloom.