Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Ireland: Vol. V. 1876–79.

Rosanna

Lines Written for the Album at Rosanna

By Felicia Hemans (1793–1835)

A beautiful place in the county of Wicklow, formerly the abode of the authoress of “Psyche.”

O, LIGHTLY tread through these deep chestnut bowers,

Where a sweet spirit once in beauty moved!

And touch with reverent hand these leaves and flowers,—

Fair things, which well a gentle heart hath loved!

A gentle heart, of love and grief the abode,

Whence the bright stream of song in tear-drops flowed.

And bid its memory sanctify the scene!

And let the ideal presence of the dead

Float round, and touch the woods with softer green,

And o’er the streams a charm, like moonlight, shed,

Through the soul’s depths in holy silence felt,—

A spell to raise, to chasten, and to melt!