LOVED AND LOST, —OR— THE SKY-LARK AND THE VIOLET.
VIOLET'S SONG
I.
Come down from thy dazzling sphere,
Bird of the gushing song!
Come down where the young leaves whisper low,
While the breeze steals in with a murmurous flow,
And the tender branches wave to and fro
In the soft air all day long!
I have watched thy daring wing
Cleaving the sun-bright air,
Where the snowy cloud is asleep in light,
Or dreamily floating in robes of white,
While thy soul gushed forth in its song's free might,
Till my spirit is dim with care.
For oh, I have loved thee well,
Thou of the soaring wing!—
And I fear lest the angels that sit on high,
In the calm, still depths of the upper sky,
Will love with a tenderer love than I,
As they stoop to hear thee sing
Come down from the heights, my bird,
And warble thy lays to me!
I shall pine and droop in my grassy nook
For the passionate song that my spirit shook,
And the low, sad voice of the grieving brook
Will murmur all night of thee!
I shall sit alone—alone,
While the noontide hour steals by;
And mournful the woodland's music will be,—
Mournful the blue, calm heavens to me,—
Mournful the glory on earth and sea,—
And mournful the sunset sky!
O voice of exulting song!—
O bright, unwavering eye!—
O free wing soaring in fetterless flight
Up to the Fountain of quenchless Light!—
O, Earth that darken'st in sudden night,
I shudder, and faint, and die!