Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/323

201 And when once listened, it is ne'er forgot, But thenceforth forms A part and parcel of our being; for not all Earth's jarring storms Can scare that gentle music from the heart It once hath entered: ne'er doth it depart,

But dwelleth like a fount within a cave Or forest deep, Answering to each light breeze whose gentle wing Doth o'er it sweep, And making doubly bright each tender beam Of star or sun-light that doth o'er it gleam.

So, love of nature's harmony can bless And gladden ever The heart and fancy, as pellucid wave Of fount or river Flings back more bright what bright doth on it fall, And its own radiance lends where else were none at all.

But I, in wandering rhymes, too long have chased The shadowy things Which oft-times flit before fantastic thought On fancy's wings; And though I well love dreamy themes like these, Wend we now nearer to realities.