Felicia Hemans in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine Volume 35 1834/To a Family Bible
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 35, Page 632
THOUGHTS AND RECOLLECTIONS. BY MRS HEMANS.
I.
TO A FAMILY BIBLE.
What household thoughts around thee, as their shrine,
Cling reverently!—Of anxious looks beguiled,
My mother's eyes upon thy page divine
Were daily bent; her accents, gravely mild,
Breath'd out thy lore;—whilst I, a dreamy child,
On breeze-like fancies wander'd oft away,
To some lone tuft of gleaming spring-flowers wild,
Some fresh-discover'd nook for woodland play,
Some secret nest:-yet would the solemn word,
At times, with kindlings of young wonder heard,
Fall on my waken'd spirit, there to be
A seed not lost; for which, in darker years,
O Book of Heaven! I pour, with grateful tears,
Heart-blessings on the holy Dead, and Thee.