University of Virginia Library

SONNET.

[Jeannie! I deem that this thy nuptial day]

Jeannie! I deem that this thy nuptial day
Should scarcely pass unhonour'd on my part
By some small tribute of poetic art,
Sonnet, or song, or hymeneal lay;
Such as long since, while youth's luxuriant May
Was blossoming and budding in my heart,
Would from my pen, almost unbidden, start,
As joy or sorrow prompted, grave or gay.
But now 'tis life's October;—flower and leaf,
Blossom and bud and fruit are dropp'd or dead;—
Long garner'd hath been autumn's ripest sheaf,
Nor should I wreathe to-day around thy head
A faded garland, redolent of grief,
Nor with dry stubble strew thy bridal bed.