'Twas when the summer's golden eve Fell dim o'er flower and fruit, A mystic spell was o'er me thrown, As I'd drank of some charmed root. It came o'er my soul as the breeze swept by, Like the breath of some blessed thing; Again it came, and my spirit rose As if borne on an angel's wing. It bore me away to my native land, Away o'er the deep sea foam; And I stood, once more a happy child, By the hearth of my early home. And well-loved forms were by me there, That long in the grave had lain; And I heard the voices I heard of old, And they smiled on me again. And I knew once more the dazzling light, Of the spirit's gladsome youth; And lived again in the sunny light Of the heart's unbroken truth. Yet felt I then, as we always feel, The sweet grief o'er me cast, When a chord is waked of the spirit's harp, Which telleth of the past. And what could it be, that blissful trance? What caused the soul to glide? Forgetting alike both time and change, So far o'er memory's tide. Oh! could that deep mysterious power Be but the breath of an earthly flower? 'Twas not the rose with her leaves so bright, That flung o'er my soul such dazzling light, Nor the tiger lily's gorgeous dies, That changed the hue of my spirit's eyes. 'Twas not from the pale, but gifted leaf, That bringeth to mortal pain relief. Not where the blue wreaths of the star-flower shine, Nor lingered it in the airy bells Of the graceful columbine. But again it cometh, I breathe it yet, 'Tis the sigh of the lowly mignionette. And there, 'mid the garden's leafy gems, Blossomed a group of its fairy stems; Few would have thought of its faint perfume, While they gazed on the rosebud's crimson bloom. But to me it was laden with sighs and tears, And the faded hopes of by-gone years. Many a vision, long buried deep, Was waked again from its dreamless sleep. Thoughts whose light was dim before, Lived in their pristine truth once more. Well might its form with my fancies weave, For in youth it seemed with me to joy, And in woe with me to grieve. Oft have I knelt in the cool moonlight, Where it wreathed the lattice pane, 'Till I felt that He who formed the flower Would hear my prayer again. Then, welcome sweet thing, in this stranger land, May it smile upon thy birth, Light fall the rain on thy lovely head, And genial be the earth; And blest be the power that gave to thee, All lowly as thou art, The gift unknown to prouder things, To soothe and teach the heart.