How oft a summer shower has started me; to seek the shelter of a hollow tree

Forgive me if, in friendship’s way, I offer thee a wreath of May.... [N]ourished by the dews of heaven.... So I have Ivy placed between, To prove that worth is ever green. The little blue Forget-me-not... Spring’s messenger in every spot, Smiling on all—"Remember me!

The best way to avoid a bad action is by doing a good one, for there is no difficulty in the world like that of trying to do nothing.

I never saw so sweet a face. As that I stood before. My heart has left it dwelling place ... and can return no more.

The present is the funeral of the past, And man the living sepulchre of life.

I found the poems in the fields And only wrote them down

Summer is a prodigal of joy. The grass Swarms with delighted insects as I pass, And crowds of grasshoppers at every stride Jump out all ways with happiness their guide; And from my brushing feet moths flit away In safer places to pursue their play. In crowds they start. I marvel, well I may, To see such worlds of insects in the way, And more to see each thing, however small, Sharing joy's bounty that belongs to all. And here I gather, by the world forgot, Harvests of comfort from their happy mood, Feeling God's blessing dwells in every spot And nothing lives but owes him gratitude.