 | Metrical essays |  |
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SERENADE.
I
When falls refreshing dewO'er summer roses;
And on the waters blue
Twilight reposes:
When—like bright stars above,
Fond eyes are beaming;
And all the hopes of love
Bless young hearts' dreaming;
When the sweet bird of night sings sad and lonely,
Come, in that hallow'd time made for love only.
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II
'Tis in that hour of songs,Brightest and fleetest;
Fair youths' and ladies' tongues
Whisper the sweetest:
'Tis when the moon shines lone
O'er mead and ocean;
Then youthful spirits own
Love's first devotion:
Come in thy beauty's light, fairest and dearest,
Earth has no gladness until thou appearest.
III
Night hath a holy powerYoung love to nourish;
Like that which warms the flower—
Lights it—to flourish!—
O! never daylight rose,
Fair, though bedighted,
When it saw eyes like those
Star-rays have lighted;
Then, when the evening sky smiling looks o'er thee,
Young beauty, haste to the arms which adore thee!
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