Felicia Hemans in The New Monthly Magazine Volume 41 1834/A Vernal Thought
The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 41, Page 428
RECORDS OF PASSING THOUGHT.
A SERIES OF SONNETS, BY MRS. HEMANS.
I.
A Vernal Thought.
O festal Spring! midst thy victorious glow,
Far spreading o'er the awaken'd woods and plains,
And streams that bound to meet thee from their chains,
Well might there lurk the shadow of a woe
For human hearts; and in the exulting flow
Of thy rich songs a melancholy tone,
Were we of mould all earthly; we alone,
Sever'd from thy great spell, and doom'd to go
Farther, still farther, from our sunny time,
Never to feel the breathings of our prime,
Never to flower again!—But we, O Spring!
Cheer'd by deep spirit-whispers not of earth,
Press to the regions of thy heavenly birth,
As here thy birds and flowers press on to bloom and sing.