I.

MY lay is ended! closed the circling year, 
From Spring's first dawn to Winter's darkling night; 
The moan of sorrow, and the sigh of fear, 
The ringing chords of triumph and delight 
Have died away,--oh, child of beauty bright,-- 
And all unconscious of my song art thou: 
With large blue eyes of Majesty and might, 
And red full lips, and fair capacious brow, 
No Leader of the World,--but Life's Beginner, now! 
II.

Oh, tender human blossom, thou art fair, 
With such a beauty as the eye perceives 
Watching a bud of promise rich and rare 
In the home-shadow of surrounding leaves. 
THOUGHT, the great Dream-bringer, who joys and grieves 
Over the visions of her own creating, 
Resting by Thee, a sigh of pleasure heaves; 
The fever of her rapid flight abating 
Amid the golden hopes around thy cradle waiting. 
III.

Thou--thou, at least, art happy! For thy sake 
Heaven speaks reversal of the doom of pain, 
Set on our Nature when the Demon-Snake 
Hissed the first lie, a woman's ear to gain, 
And Eden was lamented for in vain! 
THOU art not meant, like other men, to thirst 
For benefits no effort can attain: 
To struggle on, by Hope's deceiving nurst, 
And linger still the last, where thou wouldst fain be first. 
IV.

The royal canopy above thy head 
Shall charm away the griefs that others know:-- 
Oh! mocking dream! Thy feet Life's path must tread: 
The Just God made not Happiness to grow 
Out of condition: fair the field-flowers blow, 
Fair as the richer flowers of garden ground; 
And far more equally are joy and woe 
Divided,--than they dream, who, gazing round, 
See but that narrow plot, their own life's selfish bound. 
V.

True,--in thy Childhood's Spring thou shalt not taste 
The bitter toil of factory or mine: 
Nor the Strong Summer of thy manhood waste 
In labour vain, and want that bids thee pine: 
The mellow Autumn of thy calm decline-- 
The sheltered Winter of thy happy Age-- 
Shall see home-faces still around thee shine-- 
No Workhouse threatening, where the heart's sick rage 
Mopes like a prisoned bird within a cheerless cage. 
VI.

True, that, instead of all this weary grief, 
This cutting off what joy our life affords, 
This endless pining for denied relief, 
All Luxury shall hail thee! music's chords 
Shall woo thee,--and sweet utterance of words 
In Minstrel singing: Painting shall beguile 
Thine eye with mimic battles, dark with swords,-- 
Green sylvan landscapes,--beauty's imaged smile,-- 
And books thy leisure hours from worldly cares shall wile. 
VII.

There ends the sum of thy Life's holiday! 
WANT shall not enter near thee,--PLEASURE shall: 
But Pomp hath wailed when Poverty looked gay, 
And SORROW claims an equal tax from all: 
Tears have been known from Royal eyes to fall 
When harvest-trudging clowns went singing by: 
Sobs have woke echoes in the gilded hall: 
And, by that pledge of thine Equality, 
Men hail thee BROTHER still, though thou art set so high. 

VIII.

DEATH, too, who heeds not poorer men's regret, 
Neither is subject to the will of Kings; 
All Thrones, all Empires of the Earth are set 
Under the vaulted shadow of his wings: 
He blights our Summers, chills our fairest springs, 
Nips the fresh bloom of some uncertain flower, 
Yea, where the fragile tendril closest clings, 
There doth his gaunt hand pluck, with sudden power, 
Leaving green burial-mounds, where stood Affection's bower. 
IX.

Where is young Orleans? that fair Prince of France, 
Who 'scaped a thousand threatening destinies 
Only to perish by a vulgar chance? 
Lost is the light of the most lovely eyes 
That ever imaged back the summer skies! 
Widowed the hapless Wife, who seeks to train 
Childhood's frail thread of broken memories, 
So that her Orphan may at least retain 
The haunting shadow of a Father's face,--in vain! 
X.

Oh! Summer flowers, which happy children cull, 
How were ye stained that year by bitter weeping, 
When he, the stately and the beautiful, 
Wrapped in his dismal shroud lay coldly sleeping! 
The warm breeze through the rustling woods went creeping, 
The birds with gladdening notes sang overhead: 
The peasant groups went laughing to their reaping, 
But, in the gorgeous Palace, rose instead, 
Sobs,--and lamenting Hymns,--and Masses for the Dead! 
XI.

Where, too, is She, the loved and lately wived, 
The fair-haired Daughter of an Emperor, 
Born in the time of roses, and who lived 
A rose's life; one Spring, one Summer more, 
Dating from Girlhood's blushing days of yore,-- 
Fading in Autumn,--lost in Winter's gloom,-- 
And with the opening year beheld no more? 
She and her babe lie buried in the tomb, 
The green bud on the stem,--both wi