Sonnet V: To A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses

    As late I rambled in the happy fields,
    What time the skylark 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 excelled;
    But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me,
    My sense with their deliciousness was spelled:
    Soft voices had they, that with tender plea
    Whispered of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquelled.