No rapture in the first relays of spring,

In songs of birds, in young buds opening,

Nothing inspiriting and nothing kind;

For lack of thee, who once wert throned behind

All beauty, like a strength where graces cling,—

The jewel and heart of light, which everything

Wrestled in rivalry to hold enshrined.

Ah! since thou’rt fled, and I in each fair sight

The sweet occasion of my joy deplore,

Where shall I seek thee best, or whom invite