Page:The Forest Sanctuary.pdf/138

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LAYS OF MANY LANDS.



And we know they have quench'd their fever's thirst
    From the Fountain of Youth ere now*[1],
For there must the stream in its freshness burst,
    Which none may find below!

And we know that they will not be lur'd to earth
    From the land of deathless flowers,
By the feast, or the dance, or the song of mirth,
    Though their hearts were once with ours;

Though they sat with us by the night-fire's blaze,
    And bent with us the bow,
And heard the tales of our fathers' days,
    Which are told to others now!

But tell us, thou bird of the solemn strain!
    Can those who have lov'd forget?
We call—and they answer not again—
    —Do they love—do they love us yet?

  1. ↑ * An expedition was actually undertaken by Juan Ponce de Leon, in the 16th century, with the view of discovering a wonderful fountain, believed by the natives of Puerto Rico to spring in one of the Lucayo Isles, and to possess the Virtue of restoring youth to all who bathed in its waters.—See Robertson's History of America.
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