Ah me! what cruel anguish thrills
            My heart to-day! 
But soon may Fortune learn to smile
Upon her sad and helpless child,
            And let us meet,
No more to part, no more to sigh,
But happy live, and happy die,
            In union sweet!

THE SPIRIT OF POESY.

O! radiant spirit, bright Poesy, where
Is thy dwelling, thou seraph of beauty, so fair
In the rainbow thou laughest at sweet summer’s even,
And thou ridest the tempest that rends earth and heaven;
On the lawn gemm’d with dew, ’mid the forest in green,
On the mountains’ huge brows, in the valleys between,
In the blue rolling ocean, in sky, earth and air—­
Thy spiritual loveliness broods every where,
Thou quaffest morn’s tears in a chalice of light,
And thy form in the splendor of Phoebus flames bright;
Thou kissest the rose-bud so fay-like and fair,
And the lightnings thou wreathest in thy dark-streaming hair! 
Thy melody trills in the silver rill’s flow,
And it roars in the earthquake that thunders below;
All heaven is fill’d with thy presence divine,
All earth in the smile of thy beauty doth shine: 
From heaven to earth, and from earth swift to heaven,
Thy golden-wheel’d chariot is viewlessly driven: 
And thou robest all things in the raiment of love,
By fingers of seraphim woven above—­
And the song which thou sing’st is the melody flowing,
Like droppings of nectar, from angel lips glowing—­
And God is the Fountain, O, Poesy bright,
Whose waters now flood me with mystic delight!

THE WATER.

The water, see it, leaps from the mountain’s high brow,
  Like a roll of smooth silver, and laughingly now
See, it skips, like a child, through the valley so green,
  Throwing beauty and blithesomeness over the scene.

See the dew-drops of morning that glitter so bright,
  Drunk up by the leaves and the flowers with delight;
See the fair delicate fays, for their heavenly feast,
  In colors more lovely their light limbs have drest.

See the dark-rushing showers exultingly come
  Down, down to the earth from their high, cloudy home! 
How the countless drops twinkle, and dance, and rejoice,
  Then creep to the ground with a tremulous voice!

Oh the water, the water, it shineth so bright! 
  It falls like a beautiful raining of light,
And it gladdeneth the earth, and the sky, and the sea,
  ’Till the world laugheth out in her fullness of glee!

See it all smileth fairest—­’tis beauty above,
  In Heaven and Earth ’tis but beauty and love;
With harmony dancing—­a scene like a dream,
  When Heaven comes down on the spirit to beam!

Oh the water! the water! man, quaff its bright flow;
  It will gladden thy spirit, but give thee no woe: 
As it fresh’neth the world, so its rills will impart
  Health, gladness, and sweetness and joy to thy heart.