Phenix Gazette

The following beautiful lines are from the
Liverpool Chronicle:

FIRST FLOWERS.
First flowers of the Spring-time,
Bright gems of the year,
All lovely and blooming,
How fresh ye appear!
Springing up in the garden,
The hedge row and vale,
Enriched by showers,
And fann'd by the gale.
Your beauty is transient,
But oh! it is sweet
As the deep-felt emotions
When absent friends meet:
After dangers surmounted,
And miseries flown,
Their lips and looks telling
Of days that are gone!
Your herald—the tempest,
Your bed—the cold earth;
Unshelter'd and sunless
The place of your birth:
The snow-drift is sweeping,
And dimly the morn
From the eastward is stealing,
To hail your return.
I have lov'd your young blossoms,
They ever brought joy,
By regret unembittered,
Uncheck'd by a sigh!
But now, whilst I gaze on
Your pale, tender flowers,
Each leaf tells a tale
Of happier hours!
Of friends smiling round me,
Now laid in the tomb!
Of friendships—all wither'd;
Hearts—stript of their bloom:
Lov'd eyes, whose expression
Time never can steal,
Whilst your blossoms the coming
Of Spring-time reveal!
Still, still ye are welcome
In sorrow or bliss;
Remorse never mingles
With feeling like this.
As first love to the bosom,
So you to the year,
In your innocent beauty
And freshness appear!
The Summer may bring us
Its sunshine and flowers,
Perfuming the valleys,
Entwining the bowers:
O'er beds of sweet roses
The zephyrs may fly,
And breathe on each flow'ret
The same balmy sigh.
In loneliness bending
Beneath the rough blast,
Your gentle forms raising,
When danger is past.
Shining on! shining on!
Like Hope, ye appear,
First flowers of the Spring-time,
Bright gems of the year!