XLIII.
DEDICATION
TO A VOLUME OF TALES FOR CHILDREN.
TO MARGARET ------
I
To gild again the golden hours of leisure
What little voice has ask'd me for a tale?
What eyes, bright beaming in the hope of pleasure,
The wishful secret of the heart unveil?
What eager hands unclasp the proffer'd treasure?
What all-rewarding smiles my labour hail?
—Your smiles, dear child, untask the months' employment,
And from your joy I take my own enjoyment.
II
'Tis well, I said, when thus you first besought me—
The angel visions of my youth are o'er:—
How should I sing, except some fairy taught me
A sweet Midsummer's Tale, unsung before?
Her slumberous draught unless Titania brought me,
How should I dream, and be a child once more?—
—You smiled:—that night Titania hover'd o'er me,
And touch'd my eyes, and spread her realms before me.
III
Tall cypress spires thro' flaky cedars rising;
Crystalline streams and azure-trembling sky;
Broad emerald lawns, where, trick'd in gay disguising,
Puck led the dance of elvish revelry;
And, cloud-inborne amid their court's uprising,
Titania with Alraschid throned on high:—
—When, lo! thick gathering wings the blue o'ershaded:
I woke: the vision fled: the glory faded.
IV
But now once more, in happy hesitation,
My waken'd eyes their angel vision see:
My own Titania quits her fairy station,
And smiles her eager rapture at my knee:—
—In those dear eyes I read my inspiration:
Fain would I consecrate thine own to thee:—
—Thy kisses seal the licence as I crave it,
And I inscribe the gift to her that gave it.
