Just then, upon its wings of fire,
A star went flying by,
And vanish'd o'er the waves of cloud,
A sea-bird of the sky!

To-night there ring within my heart
Old half-forgotten chimes,
Whose mournful music memory caught
Among its nursery-rhymes.

In those sweet years I've heard them say
No wish could be in vain,
If it were form'd while flash'd thro' Heaven
A meteor's sudden train.

Ah, then I only wish'd to catch
The blue-birds on the hill,
Or, with bare feet to wander down
Some shady woodland rill.

For (oh, how long ago it seems!)
I then was but a child,
Whose cheek was bright, whose golden hair
Upon the winds flew wild;

Whose tiny hand drove humming-birds
From many a rose's breast,
Whose sunny brow and lisping lip
A mother's kisses press'd.

But since the years have pass'd and left
Their paleness on my brow,
Their twilight shadows in my heart —
What are my wishes now?

When next a fire shall flash along
The night's eternal blue,
What can I ask ere it shall fade
Forever from my view?