"
A BRIDAL SONG.
BY A WELSH HARPER.
Wilt thou not waken, bride of May,
While the flowers are fresh, and the sweet bells chime?
Listen, and learn from my roundelay,
How all life's pilot-boats sailed one day,
A match with time.
Love sat on a lotus leaf afloat,
And saw old time in his loaded boat;
Slowly he crossed life's narrow tide,
While love sat clapping his wings and cried,
"Who will pass time?"
Patience came first, but soon was gone
With helm and sail to help time on;
Care and grief could not lend an oar,
And prudence said while he staid on shore,
"I will wait for time."
Hope filled with flowers her cork tree bark,
And lighted its helm with a glow worm spark;
Then love, when he saw her bark fly fast,
Said, "Lingering time will soon be passed,
Hope outspeeds time."
Wit, next nearest old time to pass,
With his diamond oar, and his boat of glass;
A feathery dart from his store he drew,
And shouted, while far and swift it flew,
"O mirth kills time."
But time sent the feathery arrow back,
Hope's boat of amaranths missed its track;
Then love made his butterfly pilots move,
And, laughing, said, "They shall see how love
Can conquer time.
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