Classic Poem

I.

With bold affection, pure and true,
The lovers rose all fears above,
And Faith and Conscience fed with dew
The strong and flame-like flower of love.

II.

Sometimes amid the glimmering meads
They walked in August's genial eve,
And marked above the mill-stream reeds
The myriad flies their mazes weave;

III.

While under heaven's warm lucent hues
They felt their eyes and bosoms glow,
And learnt how fondly Fancy views
Fair sights the moment ere they go;

IV.

And then, while earth was darkening o'er,
While stars began their tranquil day,
Rejoiced that Nature gives us more
Than all it ever takes away.

V.

In earliest autumn's fading woods
Remote from eyes they roamed at morn,
And saw how Time transmuting broods
O'er all that into Time is born.

VI.

That power which men would fain forget,
The law of change and slow decay,
Came to them with a mild regret,
A brightness veiled in softening gray.

VII.

While in this mood one day they sat
Beside a lonely woodland spring,
On moss that spread a living mat,
The fountain's verdant fairy-ring—

VIII.

To Jane her lover slowly said,
“The time, the scene, recall to me
A story of a youth and maid
In famous lands beyond the sea.

IX.

“In land of Greece in ancient days,
A man, by many dreams possessed,
Would wander oft from trodden ways,
And rudest wilds he loved the best.

X.

“He strewed his thoughts along the gale,
He gave his heart to earth and sky,
To trees his life's fantastic tale
Was known, but not to mortal eye.