IRENE'S DREAM
The following poem, whose purpose, in what has been left of it, is not very distinctly developed, is the story of a shadowy being, called Irene, combining attributes of Emily the sister who died many years before, of the writer's own self, and of her fairyland fancies. The first eighteen lines were intended as a portraiture of that sister and were afterwards wrought with some variations into the "Elegies," where Emily is more fully depicted under the name of Erinna.
I—IRENE.
Irene died,—a flame extinguished soon—
And flame she was, so fervent and so pure,
In childhood never more than half a child,
The grave young genius of the garden ground,
And all its lesser life of birds and flowers—
Still half a child in girlhood's eager prime;
And flame she was, so fervent and so pure,
In childhood never more than half a child,
The grave young genius of the garden ground,
And all its lesser life of birds and flowers—
Still half a child in girlhood's eager prime;
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