88 THE WING. 



suggest the cherubim of Judea. Greece endows her Psyche with 

 wings, and discovers the true name of the soul, da-9/u.a, 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 nature 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 dreams. 



Dreams or realities? Winged visions, raptures of the night, 

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

 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, certain pro- 

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

 should be stigmatized as a foul delusion. 









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