88 THE WING. 



suggest the cherubim of Judea. Greece endows her Psyche with 

 wings, and discovers the true name of the soul, dcrOiuLa, 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 natxire 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, ' raptures of the night, 

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

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

 regi'et! If, from stars to stars, re-united, and launched on an eternal 

 flight, we all performed in companionship a happy pilgi-image 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, certain pro- 

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

 should be stigmatized as a foul delusion. 







'^-■^-'-""''■'^■4- " Sills. 



