( A SUMMER FANCY .)

Above the clouds lies the temple of air,
A dwelling of beauty serene and fair,
Free from the thraldom of gloomy night,
Where an intricate web of living light
Spreads in tremulous splendor round,
And fairies dance on the tangled skein.
With tiny voices and gladsome bound
They exult undisturbed in their airy reign.
A thousand beautiful varied dyes
Brilliantly spread the transparent floor;
And the sunset's roseate glory lies
In curtaining drapery o'er and o'er.
Far, far below, through the rifted clouds,
The distant visions of earth appear,
Its insect bustle and ant-like crowds,
With alternate impulse of hope or fear.
Above is the dome where the diamond stars
Lie scattered like grain from the sower's hand;
Its pillars Aurora's golden bars
That in changeful luxuriant splendor stand.
Oft through its mazes the meteor's fire
Flashes and glares down the long columned aisles;
And the gossamer foam-cloud's evanishing spire
Rises mellow and dim 'mid perennial smiles.
When the ocean in fury is tossing below,
And the fiends of the storm fill the ear with their cries,
And the darkness that rose from the West sadly slow
Now whelms in black horror the night-burdened skies,
Then far, far above in the temple of air,
In that dwelling of beauty serenely sweet,
Peace waves to the zephyrs her streaming hair
And the fairies dance with their tinkling feet.