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...LOVE by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS HYMN TO ADVERSITY by THOMAS GRAY LINES WRITTEN TO HIS WIFE [WHILE ON A VISIT TO UPPER INDIA] by REGINALD HEBER THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES LIKE A LAVEROCK IN THE LIFT by JEAN INGELOW TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED MASTER WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE by BEN JONSON |