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548    CATHERINE A. DUBOSE.

WACHULLA.

[The Wachulla Spring described in the following poem is situated about ten miles from Tallahassee, Florida. It is an immense limestone basin, as yet unfathomed in the centre, with waters as transparent as crystal.]

FOUNTAIN of beauty! on my vision breaking,
How springs my heart thy varied charms to greet
While thoughts of loveliness within me waking,
Fill all my being with their influence sweet.
Gazing on thee, my spirit's wild commotion
Is hush'd beneath some mighty magic spell,–
Till thrilling with each new and strange emotion,
No feelings but of high and pure devotion
Within me dwell.

Wachulla, beauteous Spring! thy crystal waters
Reflect the loveliness of Southern skies;
And oft methinks the dark-hair'd Indian daughters
Bent o'er thy silver depths with wandering eyes.
From forest glade the swarthy chief emerging,
Delighted, paused thy matchless charms to view;
Then to thy flower-gemm'd border slowly verging
I see him o'er thy placid bosom urging
His light canoe!

Break not the spell that wraps this beauteous vision
In the enchantment of some fairy dream;
Methinks I wander in those realms elysian,
Which on poetic fancies sometimes gleam.
Round me the dim-arched forest proudly towers,
Seeming those light and floating clouds to kiss;
Oh, let me linger for a few brief hours
By this enchanted fount–these wildwood bowers,
To dream of bliss.

CATHERINE A. DUBOSE.    549

With the bright crimson of the maple twining,
The fragrant bay its peerless chaplet weaves;
And where magnolias in their pride are shining,
The broad palmetto spreads its fan-like leaves.
Far down the forest aisles, where sunbeams quiver,
The fairest flowers their rainbow hues combine;
And pendent o'er the swiftly-flowing river,
The shadows of the graceful willow shiver
In glad sunshine!

Bright plumaged birds their gorgeous hues enwreathing,
Their amorous tunes to listening flowers repeat;
Which in reply, their sweetest incense breathing,
Pour on the silent air their perfume sweet:
From tree to tree the golden jasmine creeping,
Hangs its bright bells on every slender spray;
And in each fragrant chalice, slyly peeping,
The humming-bird its odorous store is reaping,
The livelong day.

Nature has here, in wilful mood, unfolded
Her choicest stores, the wilderness to deck;–
And forms of rare and perfect beauty moulded,
Where no rude hand her beauty dares to check.
How could I sit, and watch the waters glancing
In the calm beauty of these cloudless skies;
My vivid fancy every charm enhancing,
And sight and sound my senses all entrancing,
Till daylight dies!

How o'er the misty Past my thoughts would ponder
When sad and lone beside Wachulla's spring;
The red man, flying from his foes, would wander,
And to the wave his heart-wrung murmurs fling.

Transcription Notes:
The author is walking located south in Tallahassee Florida she have Indian brown hair daughters ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-06-29 16:12:05