 | Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative |  |
CHILDRENS' EVENING GAMBOLS.
I.
Hear you not the merry sound?Gather to the fairy round,
'Tis the hour, 'tis the hour,
When the gentle signs abound,—
When the bud begins to flower,
When the moon, with placid power,
Soothes and lights the happy ground.
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II.
Leap you not to that array,Purest hearts in pleasant play?—
Would you lose, would you lose,
Aught of such a holiday,—
While the songs of such a muse,
Lead the chain'd soul where they choose,
Far, in boyhood's world, away?
III.
Sweet to watch that pleasant game,Chaste but lovely, free from shame;
Childhood sweet, childhood sweet,—
Eyes of fire you would not tame;—
On the floor the rapid beat
Of the music-mocking feet,
The free laugh and wild acclaim!
IV.
Oh! this future on the floor,How it doth the past restore!—
In our eye, in our eye,
Stands the maid we loved of yore,—
When, like him, the urchin nigh,
First we learn'd to love and sigh,
As we love and sigh no more.
| Poems descriptive, dramatic, legendary and contemplative | |