This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

63

WANTED.—A THEME.

The spring is here again, mother! she bursts upon our sight,
Like a young girl in her bridal dress, all bloom, and love, and light;
The birds from out the sunny South, Heaven-guided, hither come;
And earth is very fair, mother, far round our cottage-home.

A spell is on my heart, mother, a deep, mysterious spell;
I feel the mighty tide of song within my spirit swell!
Then find for me a theme, mother, a theme to write upon,
Ere breaks that spell, and ere that tide has ebbed away and gone.