Sonnet LI. To Sylvia On Her Approaching Nuptials.

A poem by Anna Seward

Hope comes to Youth, gliding thro' azure skies
With amaranth crown: - her full robe, snowy white,
Floats on the gale, and our exulting sight
Marks it afar. - From waning Life she flies,
Wrapt in a mist, covering her starry eyes
With her fair hand. - But now, in floods of light,
She meets thee, SYLVIA, and with glances, bright
As lucid streams, when Spring's clear mornings rise.
From Hymen's kindling torch, a yellow ray
The shining texture of her spotless vest
Gilds; - and the Month that gives the early day
The scent od[=o]rous[1], and the carol blest,
Pride of the rising Year, enamour'd MAY,
Paints its redundant folds with florets gay.

1: Od[=o]rous. Milton, in the Par. Lost, gives the lengthened and harmonious accent to that word, rather than the short, and common one, [=o]dorous:

- - "the bright consummate flower
Spirit od[=o]rous breathes."