Dim glimmerings of lost jewels, far within
The sleeping waters, diamond, sardonyx,
Ruby and topaz, pearl and chrysolite,
Once glittering at the banquet on fair
brows

That long ago were dust, and all around 90
Strewn on the surface of that silent sea
Are withering bridal wreaths, and glossy
locks

Shorn from dear brows, by loving hands, and scrolls

O'erwritten, haply with fond words of love And vows of friendship, and fair pages flung

Fresh from the printer's engine. There they lie

A moment, and then sink away from sight. I look, and the quick tears are in my

100

For I behold in every one of these
A blighted hope, a separate history
Of human sorrows, telling of dear ties
Suddenly broken, dreams of happiness
Dissolved in air, and happy days too brief
That sorrowfully ended, and I think
How painfully must the poor heart have
beat

In bosoms without number, as the blow Was struck that slew their hope and broke their peace.

Sadly I turn and look before, where yet The Flood must pass, and I behold a mist Where swarm dissolving forms, the brood of Hope,

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Divinely fair, that rest on banks of flowers,
Or wander among rainbows, fading soon
And reappearing, haply giving place
To forms of grisly aspect such as Fear
Shapes from the idle air. where serpents

lift