YOUTH RENEWED. SPRING-FLOWERS, spring-birds, spring-breezes, Are felt, and heard, and seen; Light trembling transport seizes With scenes and seasons far behind; Childhood, its smiles and tears, Its morning-clouds and dewy prime, Fancies again are springing, Like May-flowers in the vales; From thorns, like nightingales; And kindly spirits stir my blood, Like vernal airs that curl the flood: A joy, which youth has not, A dream more beautiful than truth, - Returning Spring renewing Youth. Thus sweetly to surrender Life's burthen down to cast, This is to taste, from stage to stage, Youth on the lees refined by age: THE BRIDAL AND THE BURIAL. "BLESSED is the bride whom the sun shines on; Blessed is the corpse which the rain rains on." I saw thee young and beautiful, I saw thee rich and gay, In the first blush of womanhood, Upon thy wedding-day : "Flowers, flowers, kiss her feet; Sweets to the sweet! The winter's past, the rains are gone; Blessed is the bride whom the sun shines on." I saw thee poor and desolate, I saw thee fade away, In broken-hearted widowhood, Before thy locks were gray; The death-bell rang, And the little children sang, "Lilies, dress her winding-sheet; Sweets to the sweet; The summer's past, the sunshine gone ; Blessed is the corpse which the rain rains on.” "Blessed is the bride whom the sun shines on; Blessed is the corpse which the rain rains on." |