A SONNET.

———

BY FAYETTE ROBINSON.

———

[SEE ENGRAVING OF MAY MORNING.]

Read on, young maiden. I will gage a kiss

The page so earnestly thou porest o’er,

To be the record of the ecstasies

Of some great bard, or it may be the lore

Of wild adventure by Armida’s shore—

Or how Diana wooed the Hunter-boy,

Or how to Dido erst Æneas swore

Unmeasured love. Read while thou may’st enjoy,

For certainly as this bright morn of May

Will lose its zest, thy happiness will fade.

As Orient smiles of Spring too soon decay,

As clouds o’ershadow all the happy glade,

Now smiling in the early morning’s ray,

Thy peerless beauty e’en will pass away.

DRAWN BY PASTORINI MAY MORNING.