Page:Poetical Remains.pdf/310



! lightly tread through these deep chestnut-bowers, Where a sweet spirit once in beauty mov'd! And touch with reverent hand these leaves and flowers, Fair things, which well a gentle heart hath lov'd! A gentle heart, of love and grief th' abode, Whence the bright stream of song in tear-drops flow'd.

And bid its memory sanctify the scene! And let th' ideal presence of the dead Float round and touch the woods with softer green, And o'er the streams a charm, like moonlight, shed; Through the soul's depths in holy silence felt— A spell to raise, to chasten, and to melt!