University of Virginia Library


178

YOUTH.

I saw a streamlet flow,
With sparkles bright and free,
Still dancing to and fro,
To meet the rolling sea.
It heeded not the rock,
Whose shadow frown'd about;
It heeded not the shock,
Of gnarl'd roots spreading out.
And when a careless hand,
Disturb'd its sparkling breast,
And loos'd its wavy band,
It dimpled into rest.
On, on the streamlet went,
Beneath the burning noon;

179

On, onward in content,
Beneath the midnight moon.
And thus in gay delight,
Does youth in beauty play,
Through visions of the night,
And pastimes of the day.