 | The poetical writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck, with extracts from those of Joseph Rodman Drake |  |
I.
It is a BOY whom fourteen years have seen,
Smiling, with them, on spring's returning green,
A bonny boy, with eye-delighting eyes,
Sparkling as stars, and blue as summer's skies,
With face, like April's, bright in smiles or tears,
His laugh a song—his step the forest deer's,
With heart as pure and liberal as the air,
And voice of sweetest tone, and bright gold hair
In thick curls clustering round his even brow,
And dimpled cheek—how calm he slumbers now!
Smiling, with them, on spring's returning green,
A bonny boy, with eye-delighting eyes,
Sparkling as stars, and blue as summer's skies,
With face, like April's, bright in smiles or tears,
His laugh a song—his step the forest deer's,
With heart as pure and liberal as the air,
And voice of sweetest tone, and bright gold hair
In thick curls clustering round his even brow,
And dimpled cheek—how calm he slumbers now!
The sentry stars in heaven's blue above,
Sleep their sweet daybreak sleep, their watch withdrawn,
And lovely as a bride from dream of love,
Blushing and blooming, wakes the summer dawn;
Winds—woods—and waters of the brook and bay
Wake at the fanning of the wings of day,
And birds and bells, in garden, tree, and tower,
Bow to the bidding of the wakening hour,
And breathe, the Hamlet's happy homes among
Morn's fragrant music from their lips of Song.
Sleep their sweet daybreak sleep, their watch withdrawn,
And lovely as a bride from dream of love,
Blushing and blooming, wakes the summer dawn;
Winds—woods—and waters of the brook and bay
Wake at the fanning of the wings of day,
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Bow to the bidding of the wakening hour,
And breathe, the Hamlet's happy homes among
Morn's fragrant music from their lips of Song.
Within the loveliest of wayside bowers,
The summer home of loveliest leaves and flowers,
Cradled on rose-leaves, curtained round with vines,
And canopied by branches of a tree
Whose buds and blossoms charm the wandering bee,
In deep and dreaming sleep the youth reclines.
Sunbeams, wind-cooled, their fond caressing glow,
Twine, with leaf-shadows, the green roof below,
In wedded love-clasp of sweet shade and light,
The unwoven harmony of the dark and bright,
And blend within, around it, and above,
Their balm, their bloom, their beauty, and their joy,
Their watching—sleepless as the brooding dove,
Their bounty—boundless as the fairy love
Of Queen Titania for her Henchman Boy.
The summer home of loveliest leaves and flowers,
Cradled on rose-leaves, curtained round with vines,
And canopied by branches of a tree
Whose buds and blossoms charm the wandering bee,
In deep and dreaming sleep the youth reclines.
Sunbeams, wind-cooled, their fond caressing glow,
Twine, with leaf-shadows, the green roof below,
In wedded love-clasp of sweet shade and light,
The unwoven harmony of the dark and bright,
And blend within, around it, and above,
Their balm, their bloom, their beauty, and their joy,
Their watching—sleepless as the brooding dove,
Their bounty—boundless as the fairy love
Of Queen Titania for her Henchman Boy.
| The poetical writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck, with extracts from those of Joseph Rodman Drake | |