Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867.
II. A Vernal ThoughtMrs. Felicia Dorothea Hemans (17931835)
O
Far-spreading o’er the kindled woods and plains,
And streams that bound to meet thee from thy chains,
Well might there lurk the shadow of a woe
For human hearts, and in the exulting flow
Of thy rich songs a melancholy tone,
Were we of mould all earthly; we alone,
Severed from thy great spell, and doomed to go
Farther, still farther, from our sunny time,
Never to feel the breathings of our prime,
Never to flower again!—But we, O Spring!
Cheered by deep whispers not of earth,
Press to the regions of thy heavenly birth,
As here thy flowers and birds press on to bloom and sing.