88 THE WING. 



suggest the cLerubim of Judea. Greece endows her Psyche with 

 wings, and discovers the true name of tlie soul, dardjua, aspiration. 

 The soul has preserved her pinions; has passed at one flight through the 

 shadowy Middle Age, and constantly increases in heavenly longings. 

 More spotless and more glowing, she gives utterance to a prayer, 

 breathed in the very depths of her natui-e and her prophetic ardour : 

 " Oh, that I were a bird!" saith man. 



Woman never doubts but that her offspring will become an angel. 

 She has seen it so in her di;eams. 



Dreams or realities? Winged visions, raptru-es of the night, 

 which we shall weep so bitterly in the morning ! If ye really tvere ! 

 If, indeed, ye lived! If we had lost some of the causes of our 

 regret! If, from stars to stars, re-united, and launched on an eternal 

 flight, we all performed in companionship a happy pilgrimage through 

 the illimitable goodness ! 



At times one is apt to believe it. Something whispers us that 

 these dreams are not all dreams, but glimpses of a world of truth, 

 momentary flashes revealed through these lower clouds, cei-tain pro- 

 mises to be hereafter fulfilled, while the pretended reality it is that 

 shoidd be stigmatized as a foul delusion. 



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