Poems (Commelin)/Undine

by Anna Olcott Commelin

For works with similar titles, see Undine.

UNDINE.

In all romance's fairy landNo brighter form, I ween,Created is by poet's wand,Than thine, oh, sweet Undine,With hair of gold, with airy grace,With girlish form and winsome face.

Thou'rt kin to every living thingBy nature given birth,To birds with songs and caroling,And varying shapes of earth;Thyself, a form all joy and light,Art near to wood and water sprite.

And though the poet's fond idealHas given thee living form,Thou art a type of all things realIn life aglow and warm. Each human form, each human heartIn nature's all is but a part,And kin to all things here are we,To bird and plant and fawn and tree.

And like the fawn or water-spriteOr idle wind that blows,With merry prank and spirits lightThy happiness o'erflows;At one with nature's every moodThou findest friends in stream and wood.

But when a soul in thee is bornWith care and thought opprest,Then love and life mysterious dawnWith sadness and unrest;And kin to bird and fawn, I ween,Akin thou art to forms unseen.