To a Friend who sent me some Roses (1816)

As late I rambled in the happy fields,    
   What time the sky-lark 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 excell'd:            
But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me    
   My sense with their deliciousness was spell'd:    
Soft voices had they, that with tender plea    
   Whisper'd of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquell'd.