University of Virginia Library

EGERIA.

Not yet, not yet, can I for thee
Awake a moving strain,
To weave the minstrel's careless rhyme
Would be a task of pain;
And thou hast never felt the wants
That press upon the soul,
When deeper moods with tender awe
Its buoyancy control;
Hope's gladsome visions to thy mind
The world in light array,
And only hues of brilliancy
Around thy fancy play:
But when the fount within thy breast,
Now sealed in deep repose,
Shall gush to life and melt thy heart
With music as it flows;
When from the lightsome word you turn,
And, gazing through a tear,
Look earnestly for kindred thoughts
And sympathy sincere;
When Admiration can no more
From Love thy bosom wean,
And with a holy joy thy heart
Upon true faith would lean;
When sorrow comes across thy path
Its brooding shade to throw,
And fires long pent in darkness up
Send forth a vital glow;
When, shrinking from the light away,
Expanded feeling's tide
Shall to the channel of the soul
Like hidden waters glide;
When for responsive glances look
The eyes that now delight
Only to trace the countless signs
Of Beauty's gentle might;
When smiles upon thy lip shall play,
Because thy life is blest
With a noble heart's devotedness,
And a cherished love's behest;
When Duty seems a rule of bliss,
And Home a spell of joy—
The precious gold whose wealth redeems
The world's most base alloy;
And all the pageants Fame can boast,
Or Fortune e'er bestow,
Grow dim before the higher good
Which it is thine to know;
When on thee dawns a sense of all
Exalted Truth can bring,
And in her atmosphere serene
Thy spirit folds its wing;
When hallowed grows thy constant thought
Before affection's shrine,
And all thy winning graces wear
Its tenderness divine,—
Then, dearest, bid me strike my harp,
And, scorning tricks of art,
I'll breathe a strain whose tone may wake
An echo in thy heart!