Hemans Miscellaneous Poetry 3/Written on the First Leaf of an Album of the Same

by Felicia Hemans

WRITTEN ON THE FIRST LEAF OF THE ALBUM OF THE SAME.

What first should consecrate as thine,
    The volume, destined to be fraught
With many a sweet and playful line,
    With many a pure and pious thought?

It should be, what a loftier strain
    Perchance less meetly would impart;
What never yet was pour'd in vain,—
    The blessing of a grateful heart—

For kindness, which hath soothed the hour
    Of anxious grief, of weary pain,
And oft, with its beguiling power,
    Taught languid Hope to smile again.

Long shall that fervent blessing rest
    On thee and thine; and, heavenwards borne,
Call down such peace to soothe thy breast,
    As thou, wouldst bear to all that mourn.

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