Hath the pearl less whiteness
Because of its birth?
Hath the violet less brightness
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Hath the pearl less whiteness
Because of its birth?
Hath the violet less brightness
For growing near earth?

Early violets blue and white
Dying for their love of light.

Early violets blue and white
Dying for their love of light.

The modest, lowly violet
In leaves of tender green is set;
So rich she cannot hide from read more

The modest, lowly violet
In leaves of tender green is set;
So rich she cannot hide from view,
But covers all the bank with blue.

We are violets blue,
For our sweetness found
Careless in the mossy shades,
Looking read more

We are violets blue,
For our sweetness found
Careless in the mossy shades,
Looking on the ground.
Love's dropp'd eyelids and a kiss,--
Such our breath and blueness is.
- Leigh Hunt (James Henry Leigh Hunt),

The violets were past their prime,
Yet their departing breath
Was sweeter, in the blast of death,
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The violets were past their prime,
Yet their departing breath
Was sweeter, in the blast of death,
Than all the lavish fragrance of the time.

The violets whisper from the shade
Which their own leaves have made:
Men scent our fragrance on read more

The violets whisper from the shade
Which their own leaves have made:
Men scent our fragrance on the air,
Yet take no heed
Of humble lessons we would read.

The violets thinks, with her timid blue eye,
To pass for a blossom enchantingly shy.

The violets thinks, with her timid blue eye,
To pass for a blossom enchantingly shy.

The eyes of spring, so azure,
Are peeping from the ground;
They are the darling violets,
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The eyes of spring, so azure,
Are peeping from the ground;
They are the darling violets,
That I in nosegays bound.

Again the violet of our early days
Drinks beauteous azure from the golden sun,
And kindles into read more

Again the violet of our early days
Drinks beauteous azure from the golden sun,
And kindles into fragrance at his blaze.