Page:Retrospection and Introspection.djvu/29



Written in youth, while visiting a family friend in the beautiful suburbs of Boston.

ILD spirit of song, — midst the zephyrs at play In bowers of beauty, — I bend to thy lay, And woo, while I worship in deep sylvan spot, The Muses' soft echoes to kindle the grot. Wake chords of my lyre, with musical kiss, To vibrate and tremble with accents of bliss.

Here morning peers out, from her crimson repose, On proud Prairie Queen and the modest Moss-rose; And vesper reclines — when the dewdrop is shed On the heart of the pink — in its odorous bed; But Flora has stolen the rainbow and sky, To sprinkle the flowers with exquisite dye.

Here fame-honored hickory rears his bold form, And bares a brave breast to the lightning and storm, While palm, bay, and laurel, in classical glee, Chase tulip, magnolia, and fragrant fringe-tree; And sturdy horse-chestnut for centuries hath given Its feathery blossom and branches to heaven.