Page:Poems Rice.djvu/140

Here are links which I must sever,
 Ties to break and yet be strong;
In the path of duty ever,
 This shall cheer, to-day, my song.

Lady, oft alone thou'lt ponder
 On the beauty of each view,
And thy mind be filled with wonder,
 It may thrill with rapture too;
From the north and south extended,
 Every way which thou mayst turn,
Nature's mysteries are blended,
 Something ever new to learn.

All these sacred pictures leaving,
 All I render unto thee;
Still my heart to them is cleaving,
 Still they bear a charm for me;
Scented groves and garden bowers,
 Vales I ne'er may see again,
Mountains, rocks, and wild wood flowers—
 Language, ah, to-day is vain.

Gentle lady, from thy slumbers,
 When each morn thou dost awake,
When the minstrels trill their numbers,
 A request I have to make,—
To attend this feathered choir;
 Long with thee will they abide,
Charming more than lute or lyre
 If thou wilt for them provide.