14
AMONG THE LAURELS.
Storied so sweetly in romance and rhyme,—
Secure from human ill,
And rarely peopled still
By Fauns and Dryads of the olden time.
Secure from human ill,
And rarely peopled still
By Fauns and Dryads of the olden time.
"A spot of hallowed ground
By mortal yet unfound,
Sacred to nymph and sylvan deity,—
Where foiled Apollo glides,
And bashful Daphne hides
Safe in the shelter of her laurel-tree!"
By mortal yet unfound,
Sacred to nymph and sylvan deity,—
Where foiled Apollo glides,
And bashful Daphne hides
Safe in the shelter of her laurel-tree!"
"Forbear!" the other cried,—
"O, leave the way untried!
Those joys are sweetest which we only guess
And the impatient soul,
That seeks to grasp the whole,
Defeats itself by its own eagerness.
"O, leave the way untried!
Those joys are sweetest which we only guess
And the impatient soul,
That seeks to grasp the whole,
Defeats itself by its own eagerness.
Let us not rudely shake
The dew-drop from the brake
Fringing the borders of this haunted dell;
All the delights which are—
The present and the far—
Lose half their charm by being known too well!
The dew-drop from the brake
Fringing the borders of this haunted dell;
All the delights which are—
The present and the far—
Lose half their charm by being known too well!
