FAIR gift of friendship, and her ever bright And faultless image! Welcome now thou art In thy pure loveliness, thy robes of white Speaking a moral to the feeling heart; Unscathed by heat, by wintry blasts unmoved, Thy strength thus tested, and thy charms improved. Emblem of innocence, which fearless braves Life's dreariest scenes, its rudest storm derides, And floats as calmly on o'er troubled waves As where the peaceful streamlet smoothly glides Thou 'rt blooming now as beautiful and clear As other blossoms do, when spring is here. Symbol of hope, still banishing the gloom Hung o'er the mind by stern December's reign! Thou cheer'st the fancy by thy steady bloom With thoughts of summer and the fertile plain, Calling a thousand visions into play, Of beauty redolent and bright as May. Type of a true and holy love; the same Through every scene that crowds life's varied page, 'Mid grief, 'mid gladness, spell of every dream, Tender in youth, and strong in feeble age! The peerless picture of a modest wife, Thou bloom'st the fairest 'mid the frosts of life. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HAWK by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS A LAST PRAYER by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON THE DYING SOLDIER by ISAAC ROSENBERG IN THE VALLEY OF CAUTERETZ by ALFRED TENNYSON MY WINTER ROSE by ALFRED AUSTIN THE SECOND BROTHER; ACT 1, SCENE 1 by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES HINC LACHRIMAE; OR THE AUTHOR TO AURORA: 2 by WILLIAM BOSWORTH SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 23 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |