Thee, best beloved! the virgin train await With songs and festal rites, and joy to rove Thy blooming wilds among, And vales and dewy lawns, With untired feet; and cull thy earliest sweets To weave fresh garlands for the glowing brow That prompts their whispered sigh. Unlock thy copious stores,-those tender showers That drop their sweetness on the infant buds ; And silent dews that swell The milky ear's green stem, And feed the flowering osier's early shoots; And call those winds which through the whispering boughs With warm and pleasant breath Salute the blowing flowers. Now let me sit beneath the whitening thorn, And mark thy spreading tints steal o'er the dale; And watch with patient eye Thy fair unfolding charms. O nymph, approach! while yet the temperate sun With bashful forehead through the cool moist air Throws his young maiden beams, And with chaste kisses wooes The earth's fair bosom; while the streaming veil Of lucid clouds with kind and frequent shade Protects thy modest blooms From his severer blaze. Sweet is thy reign, but short :--The red dog-star Shall scorch thy tresses, and the mower's scythe Thy greens, thy flowerets all, Remorseless shall destroy. Reluctant shall I bid thee then farewell: For O, not all that Autumn's lap contains, Nor Summer's ruddiest fruits, Can aught for thee atone, Fair Spring! whose simplest promise more delights Than all their largest wealth, and through the heart Each joy and new-born hope With softest influence breathes. EPITHALAMIUM*. VIRGIN, brighter than the morning, Haste and finish thy adorning! Hymen claims his promised day, Come from thy chamber, come away! Roses strew, and myrtles bring, Till you drain the wasted Spring ; The altars are already drest, The bower is fitted for its guest, The scattered rose begins to fade,— Come away, reluctant maid! See what a war of blushes breaks O'er the pure whiteness of her cheeks; * Designed for the opening of a Tragedy. The shifting colours prove by turns Her soft heart with fear is panting; Thy mother smiles, and bids thee go. Mind not what thy maidens say; Though they chide the cruel day, From his arms that would enfold thee; Kiss, and take a short farewell,— They wish the chance to them befell. Mighty Love demands his crown Now for all his sufferings done; For all Love's tears, for all his sighs, Thyself must be the sacrifice. Virgin, brighter than the day, Haste from thy chamber, come away! |