As through the garden's sweet domain
The bee from leaf to leaf will rove,
Will cull its sweets with anxious pain,
Then bear its treasures to his love;
So from those leaves which bring to view
Things hid by fate in Time's dark reign,
With care I'd cull, dear girl, for you,
The richest blessings they contain;
But fortune here our power restrains,
Nor leaves her blessings in our hand:
To _wish_, alone to _us_ remains,
The _Gift_ is still at _her_ command.
Take, then, sweet maid, this wish sincere,
Which in a friendly heart doth glow--
A heart which will thy worth revere
Till life's rich streams shall cease to flow:
On the fair morning of thy life
May love beam forth his brightest ray,--
May friendship's joys, unvexed by strife,
Glad the meridian of thy day;
And when life's solemn eve shall come,
And time to you shall ever cease,
May then religion cheer the gloom,
And light thy path to endless peace.