 | Poems |  |
INOSCULATION.
With the bright fires of youth and beauty glowing,
And heaven-lit hearts, imbued in virtue's mould
With love celestial, while hope's tide was flowing,
They met; before their vision been unrolled
Earth's fairy scenes, and rapture is bestowing
Her trophied meed,—her gilded wreath of gold;
And amber skies diffuse the ambient air,
And every scene of life is beautiful and fair.
And heaven-lit hearts, imbued in virtue's mould
With love celestial, while hope's tide was flowing,
They met; before their vision been unrolled
Earth's fairy scenes, and rapture is bestowing
Her trophied meed,—her gilded wreath of gold;
And amber skies diffuse the ambient air,
And every scene of life is beautiful and fair.
Oh! while the youthful tide is laving hearts,
That feel intensely every bitter jeer
Of a demon world, ere bright hope departs,
And stygian Time the Lethean pall doth wear,
And tortured soul is steeled 'gainst sorrow's darts,—
Oh! then to feel the hand of beauty wipe the tear
Of grief away—her bosom, oped to share
Life's piercing woes—sure heaven is dwelling there.
That feel intensely every bitter jeer
Of a demon world, ere bright hope departs,
And stygian Time the Lethean pall doth wear,
And tortured soul is steeled 'gainst sorrow's darts,—
Oh! then to feel the hand of beauty wipe the tear
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Life's piercing woes—sure heaven is dwelling there.
Earth is a joyless sphere; but oh! if bliss
E'er her cherubic smile to mortals deigns,
She lingers in the soft connubial kiss,
She warms the blood in matrimonial veins,
And thrills the rapture of our happiness.
Unenvied celibacy quiet feigns,
And vaunts the unshared banquet of the soul,
But all his joys spring from the brimming bowl.
E'er her cherubic smile to mortals deigns,
She lingers in the soft connubial kiss,
She warms the blood in matrimonial veins,
And thrills the rapture of our happiness.
Unenvied celibacy quiet feigns,
And vaunts the unshared banquet of the soul,
But all his joys spring from the brimming bowl.
The baseless pictures of a wild romance,
And all the poet's termless fancy yields,
Thrill not the bosom like the faintest glance
Of sweet domestic love; it brightly gilds
Each scene—in transport's beatific trance
Angels are dancing o'er the flowery fields,
And He, whose name's Benevolence and Love,
Sheds his sweet smile o'er heaven's wide realms above.
And all the poet's termless fancy yields,
Thrill not the bosom like the faintest glance
Of sweet domestic love; it brightly gilds
Each scene—in transport's beatific trance
Angels are dancing o'er the flowery fields,
And He, whose name's Benevolence and Love,
Sheds his sweet smile o'er heaven's wide realms above.
When soul expansive grasps the blissful boon,
Dear woman's heart—and love by rolling years
Is nurtured—and smiles the hymeneal moon
In ceaseless glow, like stars along the spheres
Cinctured by the flushing radiance of June;
Primeval hope her Eden vestures wears,
Exuberant pleasure cheers the heart of feeling,
And silver streams o'er laughing lawns are stealing.
Dear woman's heart—and love by rolling years
Is nurtured—and smiles the hymeneal moon
In ceaseless glow, like stars along the spheres
Cinctured by the flushing radiance of June;
Primeval hope her Eden vestures wears,
Exuberant pleasure cheers the heart of feeling,
And silver streams o'er laughing lawns are stealing.
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When childhood's eye was glowing with the joys,
That spring from life beheld in theory,
When the infantine hand grasped nature's toys,
And the light foot, beneath a radiant sky,
Was dancing o'er the mead, and the soft voice
Was heard full jocund; then our bosoms prest,
And the rural reveries of hope were blest.
That spring from life beheld in theory,
When the infantine hand grasped nature's toys,
And the light foot, beneath a radiant sky,
Was dancing o'er the mead, and the soft voice
Was heard full jocund; then our bosoms prest,
And the rural reveries of hope were blest.
Another, and a fairer being shares
The sweet affection of that feeling breast,
To sorrow's view each holy scene appears
In Tisiphone's pall—and demons wrest
Our transient pleasures bought with bitter tears;
Still Virtue folds thee in her jewelled vest,
And lovely woman, clasped in rapture's arms,
Dispels the gloom of wo with her celestial charms.
The sweet affection of that feeling breast,
To sorrow's view each holy scene appears
In Tisiphone's pall—and demons wrest
Our transient pleasures bought with bitter tears;
Still Virtue folds thee in her jewelled vest,
And lovely woman, clasped in rapture's arms,
Dispels the gloom of wo with her celestial charms.
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