Page:Home; or, The unlost paradise (IA homeorunlostpara00palm).pdf/98

Full oft it plays the truant and escapes;
Forgets all time and distance and afar
Seeks the secluded walk, or well-known bower.
O blissful season when the unfolding soul
Puts forth all sweet affections! when bright shapes
And visions, of imagination born,
And yearnings vague, and hopes, and wishes, blend
With a deep restlessness, that is not pain,
But rather seems a rapture; and all things,
The heavens, the earth, life's many shaded scene,
Past, present, future—future most—appear
Glorious, enchanting, in love's aureate light.
So in some grand cathedral, when the sun,
Through the stained windows, his full lustre flings
On priest and altar and the reverent throng
Of worshippers that crowd the solemn aisles,
'Tis as a new Shekinah filled the place,
And heaven's own splendors threw o'er all the scene.

  She is betrothed! The changeless word is said!
Two souls are each to each for ever bound!