While yet the ling'ring blush of day
Hangs sweetly on the brow of even,
And birds and flowers their homage pay
In song and incense breathed to heaven,
Accept this tribute of a friend,
Whose heart of hearts for thee is glowing;
Who prays thy path of life may wend
Through light, and flowers forever blowing.
I've seen the midnight Cereus bloom;
Th' admiring throng around it gathered,
And ere they dreampt its rapid doom,
It breathed, it bloomed, collapsed and withered!
Thus youth and beauty fill the eye,
Dear lady! oft in bloomy weather,
And time scarce rolls the season by,
When with the leaf they fade together.
Though nature 'wails the dying leaf,
And sorrows o'er her silent bowers,
She soon forgets her gloom and grief
When dew-eyed spring revives her flowers;
But when affection weeps for one,
Whose daily life new charms imparted,
Alas! what power beneath the sun
Can cheer the lone—the broken-hearted!
Friendship and love must ever mourn
The faded wreath of promised pleasure,
And though the flow'ers of hope lie torn
Fond mem'ry hoards the heart's lost treasure.
Oh! cherish then, that vestal flow'r!
Simplicity, dear maiden, cherish!
'Twill shed a fragrance o'er the hour
When all thy mortal charms shall perish! |