Come, bright-eyed Fancy, smiling, and unlock me
Those dreamy regions where thou reignest yet;
In thy bright cradle curtain me and rock me,
As Venus rocks young Cupid, her sweet pet.
As through life's dark and solitary forest
I tread, surround me with thy balmy air;
Let the glad notes of melody thou pourest,
Be like the nightingales' that warble there.
Dreaming upon thy lap, I call the maiden
Mine, who is mine no longer—and am blest;
Dreaming upon thy lap—though sorrow-laden,
I find in silent tears the thought of rest.
Thou misery's burden wondrously dost lighten,
And minglest joy with such creative power,
That shadow'd doubts, to hope, to rapture, brighten,
And patience dawns upon the troubled hour.
A dark blue veil upon the future lowers,
And hides my coming doom—in vain I gaze;
While from my heart a flame of light uptowers,
Flinging its radiance o'er departed days.
The present's narrow limits swiftly widen,
And joy drives sorrow from the path of life;
Sweet roses bloom beneath my feet unbidden,
While beauty takes the seat of woe and strife.
Then come the sylphids on their downy pinions;
Then bows Favonius from his cloudy throne;
Joy builds a shrine in the green earth's dominions,
And I hang smiling o'er my loving one.
So lives the butterfly—amidst the blisses
Of the fresh breeze enamour'd—on his bliss;
So—the sweet lips of balmy flowers he kisses,
Flowers that give back again his eager kiss.