The Poems of Felicia Hemans

by Mrs. Hemans

Fade, wither, vanish, in thy gaze,

So dim, so pale, so vain!

How, like a faint and shadowy dream,

Must quiver learning’s brightest ray;

While on thine eyes, with lucid stream,

The sun of glory pours his beam,

Perfection’s day!

[The reader may contrast these early lines of Mrs Hemans with the maturer ones on the same subject by Professor Wilson.—Poems, vol. ii. p. 140-9.]

THE RUIN AND ITS FLOWERS.

Sweets of the wild! that breathe and bloom