‘Little think’st thou, poor flow’r,
Whom I have watched six or seven days,
And seen thy birth, and seen what every hour
Gave to thy growth, thee to this height to raise,
And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough.
Little think’st thou
That it will freeze anon, and that I shall
To-morrow find thee fall’n, or not at all.’
This simple and delicate description is only introduced as a foundation for an elaborate metaphysical conceit as a parallel to it, in the next stanza.
‘Little think’st thou (poor heart