The Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea).

The Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea).
I love, when loitering in some rustic lane,
To see Stitchwort’s little satin flower;
For every wilding is to me a dower
By nature given, to ease the mind of pain.
Emblem of innocence it seems to me; 5
With grass-like leaves of green, and petals white;
How it adorns the hedgerows, when the light
Falls full upon it! Spotless purity,
Like its, full pain would I now make my own.
I love each flower that pleased me when a child, 10
Whether in gardens cultured, or grown wild,
Far from the precincts of the smoky town,
With Nature for sole gardener: and she
Has no more loving child than I have wish’d to be.

George Markham Tweddell
[Sonnets on Trees and Flowers, p. 6.] Also published in Accrington Times,
July 15, 1882. Hull Miscellany, Sept. 9, 1882. Masonic Review, Nov.,
1883. Ulverston Mirror, April 11, 1885.