Joseph O’Connor was born at Tribes Hill, N. Y., in 1841. He is a graduate of Rochester University, and was admitted to the bar, but never practiced. He taught for a while at the Rochester Free Academy, but soon left this work for journalism and became editor of the Rochester Post and Express. His poems were published in 1895.
I would the fount of Castaly,
Had never wet my lips;
For woe to him that hastily
Its sacred water sips.
Apollo’s laurel flourishes
Above that stream divine;
Its secret virtue nourishes
The leaves of love and wine.
* * *
Its joyous tide leaps crystally
Up ’neath the crystal moon,
And falling ever mistily
The sparkling drops keep tune.
The wavelets circle gleamingly,
With lilies keeping trysts;
The emeralds glisten dreamily
Below, and amethysts.
Once taste that fountain’s witchery
On old Parnassus’ crown,
And to this world of treachery
O, never more come down!
Your joy will be to think of it,
’Twill ever haunt your dreams;
You’ll thirst again to drink of it,
Among a thousand streams.
THE ROSE.
BY PIERRE RONSARD.
This poem of Pierre Ronsard (1542) is given a place here, as it is an example of that theme which is as old as love or life—the decay of youth and beauty—a subject which has been a favorite with poets in all times. The motive of this little lyric is that of Waller’s “Go, Lovely Rose,” and of Herrick’s “Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May.”