Come with thy crowd of dreams, O thou! to whom Where are no sounds but as the winds go by,- And here, until broad day Come up into the sky, with fire-steeds leaping, TO SPRING. O THOU delicious Spring! Nursed in the lap of thin and subtle showers, That over grassy walks their greenness fling, Thou lover of young wind, That cometh from the invisible upper sea Beneath the sky, which clouds, its white foam, bind, And, settling in the trees deliciously, Makes young leaves dance with glee, Even in the teeth of that old sober hind, Come to us; for thou art Like the fine love of children, gentle Spring, A tide of gentle but resistless art Red Autumn from the south Contends with thee; alas! what may he show? What are his purple-stained and rosy mouth, And browned cheeks, to thy soft feet of snow, And timid, pleasant glow, Giving earth-piercing flowers their primal growth, And greenest youth? Gay Summer conquers thee; And yet he has no beauty such as thine. What may his dull and lifeless minstrelsy Come, sit upon the hills, And bid the waking streams leap down their side, And green the vales with their slight-sounding rills; And when the stars upon the sky shall glide, And crescent Dian ride, I too will breathe of thy delicious thrills, Alas! bright Spring, not long Shall I enjoy thy pleasant influence; For thou shalt die the summer heat among, Sublimed to vapour in his fire intense, And, gone for ever hence, Exist no more: no more to earth belong, So I who sing shall die, Worn unto death, perchance, by care and sorrow; Which now sometimes I borrow, And breathe of joyance keener and more high, S. MARGARET FULLER OSSOLI. [Born in 1810. Miss Fuller was educated by her father, and applied herself to learning with severe application. She became principal teacher in Greene St. School, Providence, Rhode Island; published Woman in the Nineteenth Century, and other prose works, and was a contributor to the New York Tribune from 1844. In 1846 she came to Europe, and soon afterwards married the Marchese Ossoli. On her voyage back to America she was drowned, 16 July 1850, along with her husband and their infant, from whom she refused to be divided. Emerson has written the Life of this remarkable woman, who produced a deep impression upon many of her eminent contemporaries. Her published poems are not numerous]. ORPHEUS. EACH Orpheus must to the depths descend,- Again his love must lose through too much love, Must melt all rocks free from their primal pain, If he already sees what he must do, Well may he shade his eyes from the far-shining view. ENCOURAGEMENT. FOR the Power to whom we bow N Ask for the castle's king and queen :— Seek not for rest in humbler home: TO WITH HEARTSEASE, CONTENT, in purple lustre clad, SUB ROSA CRUX. In times of old, as we are told, A chivalry was known, more bold Knights of the Rosy Cross: they bore They knew the secret of the sacred oil Which, poured upon the prophet's head, The pass-word now is lost To that initiation full and free; Daily we pay the cost Of our slow schooling for divine degree. We know no means to feed an undying lamp,— We wear the Cross of Ebony and Gold,- Yet be we faithful to this present trust, And by that lovely light all truth revealed, No lamp more needed, for the night has died. "Be to the best thou knowest ever true," Is all the creed. Then, be thy talisman of rosy hue, Or fenced with thorns, that, wearing, thou must bleed, Or gentle pledge of love's prophetic view, The faithful steps it will securely lead. Happy are all who reach that distant shore, Happiest are those who high the banner bore, Or waited for them, fainting and way-worn, |