STANZAS

FROM AN UNPUBLISHED POEM.

———

BY MRS. R. S. NICHOLS.

———

“I have a passion” for the budding Spring,

Who clasps the wanton Earth in her embrace,

For, like a glorious vision, she doth bring

Rich fruits and flowers, which the tropics grace;

And shining bands, that make our forests ring

With melodies so rich, that they efface

All thoughts of gloomy winter from my mind,

And leave my heart as free as is the summer wind!

“I have a passion” for the girdled mountain,

That rears its crowned head beneath the sky,

Which bends above it like a blue, sealed fountain,

Whose waters flow not in those realms on high!

Though many of these hours I cannot count on,

Yet when these glories meet mine eager eye,

I stand entranced upon the mount or lea,

For hours like these are years—are years of bliss to me!

But more than these, I love the restless sea,

The kingly element!—Its dark blue waves

Were ever like some gentle friends to me!

For oft, in dreams, I’ve wandered through its caves

Like some pale spirit of the dead, now free;

I’ve seen the bright, but tombless “place of graves,”

Where Ocean gathers all his dead to sleep,

The pale and shadowy sleep, which Death’s phantasms keep!

“I have a passion” for all lovely features

That deck fair nature’s ever glowing face;

Rocks, hills and waves to me seem glorious creatures,

Endowed with life, and majesty, and grace!

They are to us as everlasting teachers,

In whose revealings, truths divine we trace;

They bid us raise, when sad, our tearful eyes,

And seek perfection only ’mid the blissful skies.