Page:Poems Sigourney 1827.pdf/97

        Lightly o'er her bosom roved,
            Where rainbow mirth was shining,
        Forms revered and hearts beloved,
            In changeful groups combining;
                Childhood's smile,
                And Beauty's wile,
            Manhood with his brow of care,
            And matron tenderness were there:
        Above, the azure sky was glowing,
        Beneath, the flood, like silver flowing,
        Around in chequering light and shade,
        Her hues delighted Spring display'd;
            Velvet verdure deck'd the vales,
            Winding rivers, white with sails,
        Through their tufted margins stray'd;
Each dazzling scene, like moving picture, threw
Its colouring on the eye, and rapidly withdrew.

And now the setting sun, in liquid richness, pours
A flood of glory o'er the approaching shores
        Of that proud mart, which, like a queen
        Upon her island throne, is seen,
With thronging masts, and spires in long array:
                Then sparkling eyes were bent
                And ardent glances sent,
Through the soft misty curtains of declining day,
        To gain some vestige of their home;
            Gay Fancy decks the dome
                With flowers of joy;
        A richer blush steals o'er the virgin coy;
And lost in Fancy's trance, the mother clasps her boy