With some botanic drawings which had been made <br />some years. <br /> <br />IN happier hours, ere yet so keenly blew <br />Adversity's cold blight, and bitter storms, <br />Luxuriant Summer's evanescent forms, <br />And Spring's soft blooms with pencil light I drew: <br />But as the lovely family of flowers <br />Shrink from the bleakness of the Northern blast, <br />So fail from present care and sorrow past <br />The slight botanic pencil's mimic powers-- <br />Nor will kind Fancy even by Memory's aid, <br />Her visionary garlands now entwine; <br />Yet while the wreaths of Hope and Pleasure fade, <br />Still is one flower of deathless blossom mine, <br />That dares the Lapse of Time, and Tempest rude, <br />The unfading Amaranth of Gratitude.<br /><br />Charlotte Smith<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sonnet-lxv-to-dr-parry-of-bath/
