University of Virginia Library

This morning, oh! how glorious was the scene
In this old wintry forest. Every tree
All sheathed in lucid ice, and feathered o'er
With the inimitably fibred frost.
Along the swelling hills the forest lay,
Like groups of glittering angels that await
The bidding of Jehovah, silent all,
And still, save as the morning wind came by
And touched the branches, giving to the groups
A lifelike motion, as of waving wings.

The sun arose, and then the orient clouds
Grew crimson with his glory, and their hue
Touched first the summits of the plumy hills,
With delicate beauty, melting slowly down
Into the valleys, while a crown of gold
Fell on the summits, like a wreathen work
Of most amazing splendour. Every height
Was then a monarch, with its diadem,
And robe of kingly purple.
Then a shower
Of glory, like innumerable gems,
Descended suddenly, and every spray
All robed with jewels, ruby, diamond,
Beryl, and amethyst, and hyacinth,
Braided with golden chains, and strings of pearl,
Seemed worth an empire.
But the sun grew high,
The frost-work melted, the bright hues were gone,
Yet still the glory stayed. One might have deemed
That the innumerable stars of heaven
Had wearied of the fields of azure light,
And congregated in the wilderness,
To crown the old gray trees with majesty,
That well might lure the angel messengers
Who trace the bright paths of the zodiac
To turn aside, and linger o'er a scene
So like a universe in miniature,
A glorious illusion.
But the rays
That gave those ice-gems all their brilliancy
Dissolved them into tears, and long e'er noon
The panorama wept itself away;
And the old forest from its tresses gray
Shook the last big cold drops.
Such unto me
Has been the dream of life. At early morn
The world was full of angels, and arrayed
In lustre pure as heaven. Where'er I turned,
The glittering groups were waiting, with closed wings,
As if they had no wish to leave a world
So well adapted to their purity.
But reason dawned; and fancy caught her light
And threw it on the landscape; then appeared
The glittering pageantry of fairy land,
In all its changing beauty: forms of heaven
Arrayed in all the glorious hues of earth,
Crowned and adorned with gems, moving in light,
'Mid bowers and arches, wreathed and studded o'er
With flowers and foliage of bright gold and gems.

The fairy pageant passed; but high romance
Retained the dazzling splendours, and displayed
All heaven's rich hosts, wreathed into coronets,
And plumes, and sceptres, for the hand and brow
Of Genius; which despises all earth's gifts,
And claims its meed from heaven. Oh! high, and bright,
And full of glory, were life's visions then.
Her friendships, loves, and joys seemed all so pure,
That I believed the angels might mistake
This world for their own bright and holy home.

But reason's sun grew high; and long e'er noon
The glories faded, and the radiant gems
Were melted by their own intensity,
And all dissolved to tears.
Now, life to me
Is like this naked wintry wilderness,
Joyless, and cold, and traversed by wild winds,
Which waken strange and dreamy melodies,
And sigh themselves away.