God made a little Gentian－1
It tried－to be a Rose－
And failed－and all the Summer laughed－
But just before the Snows
There rose a Purple Creature－5
That ravished all the Hill－
And Summer hid her Forehead－
And Mockery－was still－
The Frosts were her condition－9
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North－invoke it－
Creator－Shall I－bloom?
It tried－to be a Rose－
And failed－and all the Summer laughed－
But just before the Snows
There rose a Purple Creature－5
That ravished all the Hill－
And Summer hid her Forehead－
And Mockery－was still－
The Frosts were her condition－9
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North－invoke it－
Creator－Shall I－bloom?
(F.520/J.442)
[1, 2] Gentian, Rose:: a hint on GRape.
[5] Pruple:: the color of frost-grape.
[9] Frosts, condition:: frost-grapes that ripen after the first frost.
There is a kind of grape, which grows spontaneously in many parts of New England, called Frost-grape, from the circumstance of its never coming to maturity till ripened by the frosts of autumn. ─ The New England Farmer, Volume V (1827)
They had not proceeded far from the forest, ere they discovered, at considerable distance, profuse clusters of the purple frost-grape, peeping out amid brown rocks, and faded foliage. ─ The Juvenile Miscellany (1829)