I FOLLOW.
‘O! mon roi!
Prends comme moi racine, ou donne-moi des ailes
Comme a toi!’
Victor Hugo.
Eagle! that coursing by on mighty pinion,
Cleaving the cloud with firm and dauntless breast,
Hast deigned to stoop thee from thy proud dominion,
To circle in thy flight my lowly nest.
I mark thee now, all heavenward ascending,
Thy far form cresting the cerulean,
Above earth’s shadows on thy pathway wending,
Thine eye of fire aye fixed upon the sun.
Oh! as I watch thee, all unfettered sweeping
High o’er the rift that weighs my pinion here,
I yearn like thee my plume in ether steeping,
To soar away through yon free atmosphere.
Thine eye was on my spirit’s humble dwelling,
And as I met its all pervading rays,
I felt along each vein new nature swelling,
And my weak heart grow strong beneath thy gaze.
And thus infused with thine unfearing spirit,
My wing, that scarcely might essay yon rack,
Casting the feebleness it did inherit,
Would boldly dare with thee the upward track.
And think not I would sink: no, all unquailing,
I poise me now to follow on thy way;
To mount the tempest-cloud with nerve unfailing,
And thread the path whereon the lightnings play.
Press on! strong plumed! on tireless wing upspringing,
Thy course be ever toward the empyrean;
And at thy side my bonded spirit winging,
Will mount with thee till thy high goal be won!
New-York, December, 1843. Mary E. Hewitt.