Page:Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 42 1834.pdf/5



And ye are strong to shelter! all meek things, All that need home and covert, love your shade: Birds of shy song, and low-voiced quiet springs, And stealthy violets, by the winds betrayed. Childhood beneath your fresh green tents hath played With his first primrose-wealth; there Love hath sought A veiling gloom for his unuttered thought, And silent grief, of day's keen glance afraid, A refuge for his tears; and oft-times there Hath lone devotion found a place of prayer, A native temple, solemn, hushed, and dim; For wheresoe'er your murmuring tremors thrill The woody twilight, there man's heart hath still Confessed a spirit's breath, and heard a ceaseless hymn.