Classic Poem

ON HER MARRIAGE TO DR. STURM .

Blessings attend thee, graceful bride,
Down Hymen's path about to glide!
With honest pleasure we have seen
The sweetness of thy mind unfold,
Thy charms assume a shapelier mould,
Beneath the sway of love serene.
Happy the lot which thou hast found;
And friendship yields without a smart
To the soft God who holds thee bound,
Who asks, and has intact, thy heart.

Thy wedding garland bids prepare
For loving duties, sacred care,
To which thy youthful heart was blind;
The trifling thoughts of childhood's day,
The sports of youth, have passed away,
And half-forgotten lie behind.
Now Hymen's fetters have control
Where fluttering love had spread its bowers;
But for the deeply-feeling soul
Those fetters are but chains of flowers.

And wouldest thou the secret find
The bridal garland so to wind
That it shall last for ever green?
It lies in purity of heart
Which grace unfading can impart
And temper with a modest mien,
Which like the sun's reflected glow,
To hearts the smiling lustre lends,
And can a modest air bestow
On dignity which ne'er unbends.