And unto her a form hath given Framed of the elements of Heaven; Pure dwelling-place for perfect mind. She stood and gazed on sire and child ; Her tongue not yet hath power to speak, The tears were streaming down her cheek; And when those tears her sight beguiled, And still her faltering accents fail'd, The spirit, mute and motionless, Of love and painful happiness. But nature to her heart convey'd A feeling many a year forgot, As if again in every vein As if she fain would have her nigh, Not so Ladurlad; he could trace, His own Yedillian's earthly face; By death alone to others given, All others are but vanity. Earthly these passions of the earth, They perish where they have their birth; But love is indestructible. Its holy flame for ever burneth, Too oft on earth a troubled guest, It here is tried and purified, It soweth here with toil and care, The babe she lost in infancy, An over-payment of delight? · THE HOLLY-TREE. Oh reader! hast thou ever stood to see The holly-tree? Its glossy leaves Wrinkled and keen; Can reach to wound; And moralize : Can emblems see Wherewith, perchance, to make a pleasant rhyme, Harsh and austere Reserved and rude, Some harshness show, Would wear away, So bright and green, Less bright than they ; The thoughtless throng, More grave than they, LETITIA ELIZABETH LANDON. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. Come back, come back together, All ye fancies of the past, Ye days of April weather, Ye shadows that are cast Vol. II.-Y By the haunted hours before! Thou art summon'd by a spell From beside the charmed well! The flower of fairy lore. The fields were cover'd over With colours as she went; Daisy, buttercup, and clover, Below her footsteps bent. Summer shed its shining store, Beneath her little feet; They had never seem'd so sweet before, The flower of fairy lore. How the heart of childhood dances Upon a sunny day! A world where phantasie is king, When once grown up and tall ; Now is the time for scheming, Then we shall do them all! Do such pleasant fancies spring For Red Riding Hood, the darling, The flower of fairy lore? She seems like an ideal love, The poetry of childhood shown, And yet loved with a real love, As if she were our own; A younger sister for the heart; Her hair is brown and bright; Never can the memory part The flower of fairy lore. In a morning hour, Catch the fairy seeming Of this fairy flower ? Winning it with eager eyes, Lingering with a long delight, Giving us a sweet surprise The flower of fairy lore? Too long in the meadow staying, Where the cowslip bends, With the buttercups delaying As with early friends, Did the little maiden stay. We, too, loiter mid life's flowers, All love lingering on their way, The flower of fairy lore. |