Eonchs of ruby. A Gift of Love :: :: University of Virginia Library

TO CECILIA.

[_]

(Composed on hearing Madame Caradori Allen sing in the Concert Room of the City Hotel, New-York.)

“Thy voice is in my soul!”—
Felicia Hemans.

I.

The April-shower of thy soft music fell
Soft on the Summer of my listening ears,
Like Anthems from the lips of Israfel,
When all in Heaven are gathered round in tears.

II.

Sweet as the last vibration of those Bells
Upon the Trees of God, just as it dies,
Fast by the throne where the Eternal dwells—
Were the last echoes of thy melodies.

III.

And now thy heavenly beauty steals upon
My spirit rapt with such divine delight,

As when the Moon to young Endymion
Revealed herself in visions of the night.

IV.

Like mellow moonlight in the month of June,
Waning serenely on some far-off sea,
Died the soft pathos of that spiritual tune—
Soft as the liquid hues of Heaven to me.

“The Angel Israfel, who has the most melodious voice of all God's creatures.”—

Sale's Koran.

“To these delights will be added the music of golden bells, shaken, as they hang upon the Trees of Eden, by odoriferous winds from the throne of God; the charms of which will be swollen and diversified by the clashing of the golden-bodied Trees, whose fruits are Pearls and Emeralds.”—

Foster's Arabian Nights.

Alluding to the harmony between a soft sound and a blue color.