POEMS OF JAMES RYDER RANDALL
I bravely grew, wooed by a Southern sun,
A graceful tree, with opulence of tress.
The vital sap through all my fibers spun,
And dainty damsels gave me their caress.
A lovely matron all my senses won,
And so I longed her happy home to bless.
Anon, the winter stripped me of my leaves,
Until I stood disheveled and forlorn;
But still my tropic heart clung to the eaves
Of that dear household, in the night and morn.
Soon the lord Spring, who blesses and reprieves,
Poured emerald largess o’er my features shorn.
How have I thrilled when they I loved were gay,
In the warm sunshine and the alert breeze!
When round the festal board wit ruled the day
And wisdom was espoused to pleasantries.
How have I wished such happiness could stay,
Unsmitten always with sad memories!
Alas! there came a dread, dissolving scene
To snap the jocund circle of my friends!
So, one by one, they fled all things terrene,
To seek the mystic shore that never ends—
Where Mortal must on th’ Immortal lean,
Where the true Ideal with the Real blends.
[ 110 ]
