Blue Cranesbill.

Blue Cranesbill.

Thou must have mark’d oft, in thy summer walks,
The Blue Cranesbill; which has derived its name,
As its seed vesicles at once proclaim,
From the resemblance which the country folks
Noticed to the Crane’s Bill. Its watchet flower 5
Is beautiful, and so are its green leaves,
In shape so graceful; and the poet grieves
To find how few adults now feel the power
Of wildflowers to give pleasure to their souls.
In childhood we all loved them: why should we 10
Lock up that love and throw away the key?
’T is a pure pleasure which in youth controls
The minds of all when e’er they look on flowers,
And we should all life long keep those fine feelings ours.

George Markham Tweddell
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, p. 40.] Also published in The
Voice of Masonry, Chicago, U.S., July, 1893.