GEMS OF THOUGHT, ETC. ADDRESS TO THE MUSE. BY THE EDITOR. ** She smiled, and I could not but love." SHENSTONE. "Visions of disquietude and fame floated before me." BULWER LYTTON. I WOOED thee, bright nymph, in the minstrel's May, When my heart, like the year, was young; When hopes beat wild in the poet-child, That rarely found a tongue : Fond nature fired my spirit free, While fancy fix'd my gaze on thee. And who shall paint the bliss that warms, What fairy forms entranced me then- B 'Twas then I view'd that minstrel band To whom perpetual youth is given; Who touch'd the grave with potent wand, Who bloom at once on earth-in heaven! And as I bless'd each dear loved name, Each gem within the crown of fame, In wordless prayer I press'd its shrine; The mortal worship'd the divine, Till earth was into chaos thrownMy gods, my idols, lived alone! How shall my heart's deep joy be told When fancy wrote my name in gold, And placed it 'midst that glittering throng, A magnet to the world of song? Sweet children of thy teeming smile, Fair visions of a day, Bright sun-flowers on life's desert isle, How soon they pass'd away: For truth has touch'd where fancy drew, Though beaming forth from sainted ground, |