Lines on Receiving a Bunch of Wild Hyacinths by Post.

Sweet, drooping, azure tinted bells,     How dear you are;     Bringing the scent of shady dells,     To me from far;     Telling of spring and gladsome sunny hours, -     Nature's bright jewels!=-heart-refreshing flowers!     Oh, for a stroll when opening day     Silvers the dew,     Kissing the buds, whilst zephyrs play     As though they knew     Their gentle breath was needed, just to shake     Your slumbering beauties, and to bid you wake.     Far from the moilding town and trade,     How sweet to spend     An hour amid the misty glade,     And find a friend     In every tiny blossom, and to lie,     And dream of Him whose love can never die.     Ye are Gael's messengers, sent here     To make us glad;     Mute, and yet eloquent, to cheer     The heart that's sad;     To turn our thoughts from sordid earthly gains,     To that bright home where peace for ever reigns.     How dare we murmur, when around     On every side,     Such proofs of His great love abound,     O'er the world wide?     Faith cannot die within these hearts of ours,     If we but learn the lessons of the flowers.     Thanks to the one whose kindly heart     Was moved to send     This gift, when we were far apart,     To cheer a friend.     Sweet meditation now my mind employs;     A pleasure pure, and one which never cloys.