Poems of Felicia Hemans in The Court Magazine Volume IV 1834/The Fallen Lime Tree

by Felicia Hemans

The Court Magazine, 1834, Volume IV, Page 10

SUMMER SONGS BY MRS. HEMANS—No. V.

THE FALLEN LIME TREE.

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Oh, joy of the peasant! O stately lime!
Thou art fallen in thy golden honey time.

Thou whose wavy shadows,
    Long and long ago,
Screen'd our grey forefathers
    From the noontide's glow;
Thou, beneath whose branches,
    Touch'd with moonlight gleams,
Lay our early poets
    Wrapt in fairy dreams.

O tree of our fathers! O hallowed tree!

A glory is gone from our home with thee.

Where shall now the weary
    Rest thro' summer eves?
Or the bee find honey,
    As on thy sweet leaves?
Where shall now the ring-dove
    Build again her nest?
She so long the inmate
    Of thy fragrant breast?

But the sons of the peasant have lost in thee

Far more than the ring-dove, far more than the bee!

These may yet find coverts,
    Leafy and profound,
Full of dewy dimness
    Odour and soft sound:
But the gentle memories
    Clinging all to thee,
When shall they be gathered
    Round another tree?

O pride of our fathers! O, hallowed tree!

The crown of the hamlet is fallen in thee!