The Forest Reverie

Tis said that when     The hands of men     Tamed this primeval wood,     And hoary trees with groans of woe,     Like warriors by an unknown foe,     Were in their strength subdued,     The virgin Earth     Gave instant birth     To springs that neer did flow     That in the sun     Did rivulets run,     And all around rare flowers did blow     The wild rose pale     Perfumed the gale     And the queenly lily adown the dale     (Whom the sun and the dew     And the winds did woo),     With the gourd and the grape luxuriant grew.     So when in tears     The love of years     Is wasted like the snow,     And the fine fibrils of its life     By the rude wrong of instant strife     Are broken at a blow     Within the heart     Do springs upstart     Of which it doth now know,     And strange, sweet dreams,     Like silent streams     That from new fountains overflow,     With the earlier tide     Of rivers glide     Deep in the heart whose hope has died,     Quenching the fires its ashes hide,     Its ashes, whence will spring and grow     Sweet flowers, ere long,     The rare and radiant flowers of song!