Poems of Felicia Hemans in The Literary Souvenir, 1828/The Wings of the Dove
THE WINGS OF THE DOVE.
BY MRS. HEMANS.
"Oh! that I had the wing a of a Dove, that I might flee away and be at rest!"
I.
Oh! for thy wings, thou dove!
Now sailing by with sunshine on thy breast;
That borne like thee above,
I too might flee away, and be at rest!
II.
Where wilt thou fold those plumes,
Bird of the forest-shadows, holiest bird?
In what rich leafy glooms,
By the sweet voice of hidden water stirred?
III.
Over what blessed home,
What roof with dark, deep summer-foliage crowned,
O fair as Ocean's foam!
Shall thy bright bosom shed a gleam around?
IV.
Or seek'st thou some old shrine
Of nymph or saint, no more by Votary wooed,
Tho' still, as if divine,
Breathing a spirit o'er the solitude?
V.
Yet wherefore ask thy way?
Blest, ever blest, whate'er its aim, thou art!
Unto the greenwood spray
Bearing no dark remembrance at thy heart!
VI.
No echoes that will blend
A sadness with the rustlings of the grove;
No memory of a friend
Far off, or dead, or chang'd to thee, thou Dove!
VII.
Oh! to some cool recess
Take, take me with thee on the summer-wind!
Leaving the weariness,
And all the fever of this life behind:
VIII.
The aching and the void
Within the heart whereunto none reply,
The early hopes destroyed—
Bird! bear me with thee thro' the sunny sky.
IX.
—Wild wish, and longing vain,
And brief upspringing to be glad and free!
Go to thy woodland reign!
My soul is bound and held—I may not flee.
X.
For even by all the fears
And thoughts that haunt my dreams—untold, unknown,
And by the woman's tears
Poured from mine eyes in silence and alone;
XI.
Had I thy wings, thou Dove!
High 'midst the gorgeous isles of cloud to soar,
Soon the strong cords of love
Would draw me earthwards—homewards—yet once more!