Days and Hours :: :: University of Virginia Library

A little child lay on its mother's knee
In shade of Summer boughs; and that fond mother
Waved in one hand the flowers of a wild tree,
And a fair branch of fruitage in the other.

II

Longing he lay, and glancing his blue eyes
From one to other—for his will was loth
To fix its choice—he sigh'd his firstborn sighs,
Stretch'd out both arms, and would have clutch'd them both.

III

A gray old man peep'd thro' the leaves, and bless'd
That lovely child—then sadly turn'd apart,
And sitting down a little from the rest
Sigh'd, as he murmur'd thus to his own heart;

172

IV

Within the Violet's cup no nectar flows,
Tho' its rich breath fills the delighted air;
When the ripe fruit is glistening on the boughs
The lovely blossom is no longer there:

V

When the young Sun is arming him at morn,
His beauty makes sweet rainbows in the sky;
But when his wheels are up the Zenith borne
He hath no power for such soft magist'ry:

VI

When the swift heart of the enchanted boy
Speaks through his downy cheeks, and starry eyes,
An hour of love is worth eternal joy,
And beauty all the treasures of the wise;

VII

But when the time-worn heart begins to bud
With leaves of Truth, like the Autumnal green,
No pulse of rapture stirs the drowsy blood,
Scarce stirring with the pulses that have been.

173

VIII

Ah me! in what immortal hour of Time,
Under what star, in what enchanted weather,
In what new Eden, in what fairy clime,
Nature, shall thy perfections meet together?

IX

When youthful hearts, rejoicing in their May,
Shall bide in cheerful faith the unborn hour,
And the wise spirit not regret the day
That brings the fruit, but takes away the flower?

X

When Hope and Love, so lavish of delight,
Shall laugh and sing, yet crown their early years
With those rare buds more odorous than bright,
And that wise spirit now the growth of tears;

XI

Ah! vexed Life, there is no other wand
But Death's cold finger—take him for thy friend—
He leadeth Truth and Beauty hand in hand,
He brings thee Youth and Knowledge without end