Welcome, maids of honor,
You doe bring
In the spring,
And wait upon her.

Welcome, maids of honor,
You doe bring
In the spring,
And wait upon her.

Cold blows the wind against the hill,
And cold upon the plain;
I sit me by the read more

Cold blows the wind against the hill,
And cold upon the plain;
I sit me by the bank, until
The violets come again.

A vi'let on the meadow grew,
That no one saw, that no one knew,
It was a read more

A vi'let on the meadow grew,
That no one saw, that no one knew,
It was a modest flower.
A shepherdess pass'd by that way--
Light footed, pretty and so gay;
That way she came,
Softly warbling forth her lay.

Steals timidly away,
Shrinking as violets do in summer's ray.

Steals timidly away,
Shrinking as violets do in summer's ray.

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),

And the violet lay dead while the odour flew
On the wings of the wind o'er the waters blue.

And the violet lay dead while the odour flew
On the wings of the wind o'er the waters blue.

The violet is a nun.

The violet is a nun.

And shade the violets,
That they may bind the moss in leafy nets.

And shade the violets,
That they may bind the moss in leafy nets.

The eyes of spring, so azure,
Are peeping from the ground;
They are the darling violets,
read more

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