Classic Poem

Tho ' Fancy's witchery be soft,
 There's danger in her smile;
She only lures to disappoint,
 And flatters to beguile:
As the halo round night's diadem
 Is beautiful and bland,
But it foretels the coming showers
 And storms that are at hand.

II.

And there are hours when Fancy reigns
 Sole empress of the heart,
When the glow she sends is brighter far
 Than reason can impart:
Oh! it comes o'er the musing mind
 Like the breeze across the flower,
Refreshing and reviving
 All balminess and power.

III.

But the breeze is quickly past, and all
 That mark its transient stay
Are the flow'ret's widely scattered leaves
 Its breath has blown away:
So the glow of fancy soon departs,
 And nought proclaims its power,
But the wreck and ruin of the mind
 It gilded for an hour.