“Dark eyes are dearer far
Than those that mock the hyacinthine bell.”

Blue! ’Tis the life of heaven,-the domain
Of Cynthia,-the wide palace of the sun,-
The tent of Hesperus, and all his train,-
The bosomer of clouds, gold, gray, and dun.
Blue! ’Tis the life of waters:-Ocean
And all its vassal streams, pools numberless,
May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can
Subside, if not to dark-blue nativeness.
Blue! gentle cousin of the forest-green,
Married to green in all the sweetest flowers-
Forget-me-not,-the blue-bell,-and, that queen
Of secrecy, the violet: what strange powers
Hast thou, as a mere shadow! But how great,
When in an Eye thou art alive with fate!