A Budget of Paradoxes

Child in thy beauty; empress in thy pride; Sweet and unyielding as the summer’s tide; Starlike to tremble, starlike to abide. Guiltless of wounding, yet more true than steel; Gem-like thy light to flash and to conceal; Tortoise to bear, insect to see and feel. Blushing and shy, yet dread we thy disdain; Smiling, a sunbeam fraught with hints of rain; Trilling love-notes to freedom’s fierce refrain. The days are fresh, the hours are wild and sweet, When spring and winter, dawn and darkness meet; Nymph, with one welcome, thee and these we greet.