Page:Sarah Sheppard - L. E. L.pdf/39

 general survey will afford? Listen to the earnest and soul-fraught tones of "The Improvvisatrice," and the varying minstrelsy of "The Troubadour;" or go to "The Provençal Festival," and hear the songs of the Bards—the competitors for "The Golden Violet,"—as they pour forth many a true and touching strain of the mind's loftiest thoughts,—the heart's deepest emotions. We will not presume to choose for you, where all are beautiful, but leave you to enter on the themes most accordant with your own mood. Ah! young poet! well may your dreaming eye glisten! your ear hath caught the echo of your own soul's long-treasured aspirations! Know you not the portraiture;—feel you not its truth?—

Oh! glorious is the gifted poet's lot, And touching more than glorious; ’tis to be Companion of the heart's least earthly hour; The voice of love and sadness, calling forth Tears from their silent fountain; 'tis to have Share in all nature's loveliness; giving flowers A life as sweet, more lasting than their own; And catching from green wood and lofty pine Language mysterious as musical; Making the thoughts, which else had only been Like colours on the morning's earliest hour, Immortal, and worth immortality; Yielding the hero that eternal name For which he fought; making the patriot's deed A stirring record for long after-time; Cherishing tender thoughts, which else had passed Away like tears; and saving the loved dead From Death's worst part, its deep forgetfulness!" Golden Violet. Erinna.                                          Young poet, if thy dreams have not the hope To purify, refine, exalt, subdue, To touch the selfish, and to shame the vain Out of themselves, by gentle mournfulness; Or chords that rouse some aim of enterprise, Lofty and pure, and meant for general good;