Sonnet LI: To Sylvia on Her Approaching Nuptials

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 odōrous, and the carol blest,
Pride of the rising Year, enamour'd MAY,
Paints its redundant folds with florets gay.