Poems of Felicia Hemans in The Literary Souvenir, 1826/The Child and Dove

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LADY LOUISA JANE RUSSELL.
YOUNGEST DAUGHTER OF HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEDFORD
From the Statue by Chantrey at Woburn Abbey


Drawn by Henry CorbouldEngraved by J. Thomson

THE CHILD AND DOVE.

SUGGESTED BY CHANTREY'S STATUE OF LADY LOUISA RUSSELL.

BY MRS. HEMANS.


I.
Thou art a thing on our dreams to rise,
'Midst the echoes of long-lost melodies,
And to fling bright dew from the morning back,
Fair form, on each image of Childhood's track!

II.
Thou art a thing to recall the hours
When the love of our souls was on leaves and flowers;
When a world was our own in some dim, sweet grove,
And treasure untold in one captive Dove!

III.
Are they gone? can we think it, while thou art there,
Thou radiant child with the clustering hair?
Is it not Spring that indeed breathes free
And fresh o'er each thought, as we gaze on thee?


IV.
No! never more may we smile as thou
Sheddest round smiles from thy sunny brow!
Yet something it is, in our hearts to shrine,
A memory of beauty, undimmed as thine!

V.
To have met the joy of thy speaking face,
To have felt the spell of thy breezy grace;
To have lingered before thee, and turned, and borne
One vision away of the cloudless morn!