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DEDICATION FOR A BOOK OF POETICAL EXTRACTS, TO A FRIEND.
TO aid the garland yet untwin'd,
And gently swell this budding wreath,
A wild and mountain flow'r I bind,
And o'er its leaves the lyre shall breathe,
And as you seek for varying sweets,
The future chaplet to compose,
Tread lightly o'er those lone retreats,
Where genius hides, and beauty glows.
Ask from the opening rose its bloom,
Ask of its buds their tissued fold,
Seek the meek violet's perfume,
And bow to cull the snow drop cold.
Choose freely from the gay parterre,
Or groves where oaks their shadows cast,
And climb the cliff where high in air,
The evergreen endures the blast.
From cold recess where forests wave,
Pluck the wild laurel bold and free,
And gather from the Christian's grave
The cypress and the rosemary.
