As violets gain the heavens’ own blue

In gazing at the skies.

—JOHN HAY.

The violet in her greenwood bower

Where birchen boughs with hazels mingle,

May boast itself the fairest flower

In glen, or copse, or forest dingle.

—SIR WALTER SCOTT.

The lone violet which for love’s own sake

Its life exhales in pure unconscious good,