THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by

TICKNOR AND FIELDS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

UNIVERSITY PRESS:
WELCH, BIGELOW, AND COMPANY,

CAMBRIDGE.

TO MY FRIENDS.

SHALL this an emblem be of that blue sky

Wherein are set the golden stars of song?
Drops the reluctant world its doubting cry,
To give me room among the shining throng?

Ah, vain the question! 'Tis enough to know
My heart in song has blossomed and has bled:
Has learned with love of living bards to glow,

And touched the garments of the laurelled dead.

You, also, Friends, that wear the Artist's crown,
Or, wearing not, the crown to others bring,
You do not ask my measure of renown,
But wait, content to hear, as I to sing.

Your love upholds me in the silent days,

And in the tuneful nights I give to Art;

These leaves are yours, to whom their speech betrays
The changeful fancy and the changeless heart.

CEDARCROFT, May, 1864.

B. T.