Nature

Be it not mine to steal the cultured flower

by George John Romanes 1848–1894

From The Golden Treasury, Second Series, ed. Francis Turner Palgrave (1897)

Nature

Be it not mine to steal the cultured flower
From any garden of the rich and great,
Nor seek with care, through many a weary hour,
Some novel form of wonder to create.

Enough for me the leafy woods to rove,
And gather simple cups of morning dew,
Or, in the fields and meadows that I love,
Find beauty in their bells of every hue.

Thus round my cottage floats a fragrant air,
And though the rustic plot be humbly laid,
Yet, like the lilies gladly growing there,
I have not toil'd, but take what God has made.

My Lord Ambition pass'd, and smiled in scorn;
I pluck'd a rose, and, lo! it had no thorn.

MLA

Romanes, George John. “Be it not mine to steal the cultured flower.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/romanes/0/.

Chicago

Romanes, George John. “Be it not mine to steal the cultured flower.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/romanes/0/.

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