THE FIG TREE AND THE FLOWERING SHRUB.
Reading edition
THE FIG TREE AND THE FLOWERING SHRUB.
Flowers which many leaves display,
In fruitless beauty fade away.
Cries one of these, with saucy sneer,
To a plain fig-tree growing near,
"How comes it, honest friend, that thou
Dost in the spring no blossoms show?"
Says he, "I keep them out of view,
For fear I should resemble you,
And in the autumn nought produce
Of permanence and solid use."
Who soon and much essay to shine,
May dread a premature decline.
