IN FIRLE PARK.
I FOUND a fairy-land to-day,
A wonder-world, not far away ; I crossed no seas, I climbed no heights, I spent no toilsome days nor nights ; I came not to it in my dreams, Nor fancies born of morning beams ; I trod the earth, I breathed the air, The known fields were my neighbours there ; Yet such a hallowed place I found, lslanded from the world around.
The trees o'erreach from either side A moss-grown path, not over-wide ; Its windings seen a little space, Then lost in boughs that interlace. Soon as I saw I owned the spell ; My feet in quiet reverence fell; For there were mosses and long grass, Catching at sunbeams as they pass ; And many leaves, new leapt from earth, Green from their fresh and dewy birth.
But oh, that I could tell the sight, That flooded all my soul with light !
There, 'mid green leaves luxuriant, grew Violets,—a hundred eyes of blue.
Each cluster seemed a fairy band, Each nest of leaves a fairy-land ; And all the air was odorous With joys no words can tell to us, With every unimagined thing We dream of in the days of Spring.
Alas ! how small a boon are words, By the wild raptures of the birds. Had I a blackbird's song, perchance E'en I might make your spirit dance, Your soul be thrilled a little space
With my sweet memories of that place. Now, with weak words I strive in vain ; Into my breast they turn again ; Aud, all unwillingly, my heart Feeds on her heavenly joys apart. F. W. B..
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