The CROWN IMPERIAL and HEART’S-EASE.
I.
Lo! where from Persia’s warmer clime,
And ancient Bactria’s land;
With interwoven purple wrought,
The ensign of command,
II.
The CROWN IMPERIAL rears aloft
His rich and gorgeous head,
And, pointing to the distant sky,
Bids all his glories spread.
III.
Beneath, in humbler station plac’d,
The fair VIOLA grew,
Which the lov’d name of Heart’s-Ease bears,
Whose pow’r can Care subdue.
IV.
The purple monarch swell’d with ire,
Indignant to behold
The flow’ret blooming near his side,
And thus his anger told;
V.
“Rash flow’r, seest thou my aweful state,
“That speaks the garden’s king?
“See’st thou th’ Imperial Crown that decks,
“And gems that round me spring.
VI.
“I from the East my lineage draw,
“Where chief of flow’rs I rise;
“And amidst thousands raise my fame,
“Ev’n to the starry skies.
VII.
“Go then, base daughter of the earth!
“Near some vile cottage grow;
“Nor give thy paltry race to rise
“Where my bright blossoms blow!”
VIII.
The sweet VIOLA inly mourn’d
The boaster’s ill-plac’d pride;
And, while this answer she return’d,
The flow’r with pity ey’d:
IX.
“Great is the boast, I own, she said,
“Of pomp and scepter’d pow’r;
“But greater are the blessings found
“In life’s serener hour.
X.
“Thee purple honours still adorn,
“Which teach thy leaves to shine;
“But to breathe fragrance on the day,
“Proud plant! was never thine.
XI.
“That I am stranger to thy race,
“The cause is plain to tell;
“For when did Heart’s-Ease ever deign
“With crowned heads to dwell?
XII.
“ME still in life’s more humble vale
“Most certain will you find;
“There most my simple sweets are known,
“Where Fortune proves least kind.
XIII.
“Go learn, That neither wealth nor pomp
“True blessings can bestow;
“On sweet CONTENT alone await
“All joy and bliss below.”