186 FLORA AND THALIA. 



Oh ! happy child, m thy fawn-like glee, 

 What is remembrance or thought to thee 1 

 Fill thy bright locks with those gifts of spring; 

 O'er thy green pathway their colours fling ; 

 Bind them in chaplet and wild festoon— 

 What if to droop and to perish soon 1 

 Nature hath mines of such wealth — and thou 

 Never wilt prize its delights as now. 



For a day is coming to quell the tone 



That rings in thy laughter, thou joyous one ! 



And to dim thy brow with a touch of care, 



Under the gloss of its clustering hair ; 



And to tame the flash of thy cloudless eyes 



Into the stillness of autumn skies ; 



And to teach thee that grief hath her needful part 



'Midst the hidden things of each human heart. 



Yet, shall we mourn, gentle child, for this 1 



Life hath enough of yet holier bliss. 



Such be thy portion ! the bliss to look 



With a reverent spirit through Nature's book ; 



By fount, by forest, by river's line, 



To track the paths of a love divine ; 



To read its deep meanings — to see and hear 



God in earth's garden, — and not to fear. 



MRS. HEMATfS, 



