The Youth By The Brook. [16]

Beside the brook the boy reclined     And wove his flowery wreath,     And to the waves the wreath consigned     The waves that danced beneath.     "So fleet mine hours," he sighed, "away     Like waves that restless flow:     And so my flowers of youth decay     Like those that float below."     "Ask not why I, alone on earth,     Am sad in life's young time;     To all the rest are hope and mirth     When spring renews its prime.     Alas! the music Nature makes,     In thousand songs of gladness     While charming all around me, wakes     My heavy heart to sadness."     "Ah! vain to me the joys that break     From spring, voluptuous are;     For only one 't is mine to seek     The near, yet ever far!     I stretch my arms, that shadow-shape     In fond embrace to hold;     Still doth the shade the clasp escape     The heart is unconsoled!"     "Come forth, fair friend, come forth below,     And leave thy lofty hall,     The fairest flowers the spring can know     In thy dear lap shall fall!     Clear glides the brook in silver rolled,     Sweet carols fill the air;     The meanest hut hath space to hold     A happy loving pair!"