University of Virginia Library

SONNETS.

I. FAERY GLIMPSES.

The spirits that do dress the flowers with dew,
And trip it on the greensward, by the moon,
And play fantastic tricks, both late and soon,
When March with blossoms promises the Spring,—
Have been about me in the merriest ring.
Methought among their forms were some I knew.
They came with hushing laughter,—for I slept
Beneath our willows—slily round me crept,
And prankt my brow with blossoms,—in my ear
Whisper'd the wildest dreams of elfin land,
Then, in a circle, dancing hand in hand,
Sung me a ditty from the Moon's own sphere:—
Starting from slumber, in the dear delight
Of such a vision, it was gone from sight.

II. CHILD FANCIES.

A plague upon your knowledge—books and laws,
Sciences, theories, and doctrines cold,
Maxims and principles, and rules, and saws,
That, propagating nothing, from the old,
Lop off their generations!—Where are now
Those fancies rare, those superstitions wild,
That kept the heart, in wonders, still a child;—
That taught the mind to dream, the soul to glow—
That peopled air with glories—fill'd the mine
With its inhabitants,—fiery-mailéd forms,
That, traversing earth's avenues in swarms,
Met Oberon's light legions, line for line?
Give me these visions of my youth—restore
Its youth, which dwelt in such as these, once more.