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 od[=o]rous, 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."