POETRY.
" WITH AN AMETHYST." [SUGGESTED BY A PERSIAN PABLE.1 WHITE lie the February snows,
By wooing sunbeams softly kissed; And at thy white breast, lady, glows My amethyst.
The magic hues that lark beneath The surface of the purple wine, Fall on the snowdrift's rippling breath, And upon thine.
Then as an emblem wear my gift, As Sun to snow, dear, let it be: So may this radiant mystery lift Thine heart to me.
Not mine the parable, fair child; 'Twas whispered to the air along The ages, in the music wild Of Persian song.
Of all the months whose jewelled round The circling year cloth diadem, Each one, the poet fabled, found Its special gem.
The wealth of shifting hues that lies In Eastern Earth's unfathomed heart, For every season's change supplies A counterpart.
The red heat of the torrid zone,— The frozen Arctic's iron cell,
In strange symbolic meaning known, Those gems enfold.
Read by this light, our birthdays tell A lesson of his own to each; And autumn's wane, or summer's spell, Their moral teach.
To thee, the February days, That lengthen out to herald spring, The amethyst's imprisoned rays For token bring.
Then let Spring's diamond light thine hair, And Summer's pearl entwine thy wrist ; But on thy snow-bright bosom wear My amethyst.
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