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JKISH MELODIES, |
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So many a feeling, that long seem'd effac'd,
The warmth of a moment like this brings to light.
And thus, as in memory's bark, we shall glide
To visit the scenes of our boyhood anew, Tho' oft we may see, looking down on the tide,
The wreck of full many a hope shining through Yet still, as in fancy we point to the flowers
That once made a garden of all the gay shore, Deceiv'd for a moment, we'll think them still ours,
And breathe the fresh air of life's morning once more.*
So brief our existence, a glimpse, at the most,
Is all we can have of the few we hold dear; And oft even joy is unheeded and lost,
For want of some heart, that could echo it, near. Ah, well may we hope, when this short life is gone,
To meet in some world of more permanent bliss; For a smile, or a grasp of the hand, hastening on,
Is all we enjoy of each other in this, f
* " Jours charmans, quand je songe a vos beureus instans, Je pense remonter le fleuve de mes ans; Et mon cceur enchante sur sarive fleurie Respire encore Tair pur du matin de la vie."
t The same thought has been happily expressed by my friend Mr. Washington Irving, in his Bracebridge Hall, vol. i. p. 213. The pleasure which I feel in calling this gentleman my friend is much enhanced by the reflection, that he is too good an American to have admitted me so readily to such a distinction, if he had not known that my feelings towards the great and free country that gave him 'birth have long been such as every real lover of the liberty and happiness of the human race must entertain. |
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