Poetical Remains of the Late Mrs Hemans/A Vernal Thought

by Felicia Hemans

For other versions of this work, see Records of Passing Thought. I. A Vernal Thought.

I.

A VERNAL THOUGHT.

O festal Spring! 'midst thy victorious glow
Far-spreading o'er the kindled 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,
Severed from thy great spell, and doomed 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!
Cheered by deep spirit-whispers not of earth,
Press to the regions of thy heavenly birth,
As here thy Flowers and Birds press on to bloom and sing.