On the white sails that o'er its bosom glide, And on surrounding mountains wild and high, Till tears unbidden gushed from his enchanted eye.
But his were not the tears of feeling fine Of grief or love; at fancy's flash they flowed, Like burning drops from some proud lonely pine By lightning fired; his heart with passion glowed Till it consumed his life, and yet he showed A chilling coldness both to friend and foe, As Etna, with its centre an abode
Of wasting fire, chills with the icy snow Of all its desert brow the living world below.
Was he but justly wretched from his crimes? Then why was Cowper's anguish oft as keen, With all the heaven-born virtue that sublimes Genius and feeling, and to things unseen
Lifts the pure heart through clouds, that roll between The earth and skies, to darken human hope?
Or wherefore did those clouds thus intervene
To render vain faith's lifted telescope,
And leave him in thick gloom his weary way to grope?
He, too, could give himself to musing deep; By the calm lake, at evening, he could stand, Lonely and sad, to see the moonlight sleep On all its breast, by not an insect fanned, And hear low voices on the far-off strand, Or, through the still and dewy atmosphere, The pipe's soft tones, waked by some gentle hand, From fronting shore and woody island near
In echoes quick returned more mellow and more clear.
And he could cherish wild and mournful dreams, In the pine grove, when low the full moon, fair, Shot under lofty tops her level beams,
Stretching the shades of trunks erect and bare, In stripes drawn parallel with order rare,
As of some temple vast or colonnade,
While on green turf, made smooth without his care, He wandered o'er its stripes of light and shade,
And heard the dying day-breeze all the boughs pervade.
'Twas thus, in nature's bloom and solitude, He nursed his grief till nothing could assuage; 'Twas thus his tender spirit was subdued, Till in life's toils it could no more engage; And his had been a useless pilgrimage, Had he been gifted with no sacred power, To send his thoughts to every future age; But he is gone where grief will not devour, Where beauty will not fade, and skies will never lower.
To that bright world where things of earth appear Stripped of false charms, my fancy often flies, To ask him there what life is happiest here; And, as he points around him, and replies With glowing lips, my heart within me dies, And conscience whispers of a dreadful bar, When, in some scene where every beauty lies, A soft, sweet pensiveness begins to mar The joys of social life, and with its claims to war.
How many now are dead to me That live to others yet!
How many are alive to me
Who crumble in their graves, nor see
That sickening, sinking look which we Till dead can ne'er forget.
Beyond the blue seas, far away,
Most wretchedly alone,
One died in prison, far away,
Where stone on stone shut out the day, And never hope or comfort's ray
In his lone dungeon shone.
Dead to the world, alive to me;
Though months and years have passed,
In a lone hour, his sigh to me
Comes like the hum of some wild bee, And then his form and face I see
As when I saw him last.
And one, with a bright lip, and cheek, And eye, is dead to me.
How pale the bloom of his smooth cheek! His lip was cold-it would not speak; His heart was dead, for it did not break; And his eye, for it did not sce.
Then for the living be the tomb, And for the dead the smile; Engrave oblivion on the tomb Of pulseless life and deadly bloom- Dim is such glare; but bright the gloom Around the funeral pile.
THERE's beauty in the deep:- The wave is bluer than the sky;
And, though the light shine bright on high, More softly do the sea-gems glow That sparkle in the depths below; The rainbow's tints are only made When on the waters they are laid, And sun and moon most sweetly shine Upon the ocean's level brine.
There's beauty in the deep.
There's music in the deep:- It is not in the surf's rough roar, Nor in the whispering, shelly shore- They are but earthly sounds, that tell How little of the sea-nymph's shell, That sends its loud, clear note abroad, Or winds its softness through the flood, Echoes through groves with coral gay, And dies, on spongy banks, away. There's music in the deep.
There's quiet in the deep:Above, let tides and tempests rave,
And earth-born whirlwinds wake the wave;
Above, let care and fear contend,
With sin and sorrow to the end:
Here, far beneath the tainted foam, That frets above our peaceful home, We dream in joy, and wake in love, Nor know the rage that yells above. There's quiet in the deep.
Scene after a Summer Shower.-PROFESSOR Norton.
THE rain is o'er. How dense and bright Yon pearly clouds reposing lie! Cloud above cloud, a glorious sight, Contrasting with the dark blue sky!
In grateful silence, earth receives The general blessing; fresh and fair, Each flower expands its little leaves, As glad the common joy to share.
The softened sunbeams pour around A fairy light, uncertain, pale;
The wind flows cool; the scented ground Is breathing odors on the gale.
Mid yon rich clouds' voluptuous pile, Methinks some spirit of the air Might rest, to gaze below awhile,
Then turn to bathe and revel there.
The sun breaks forth; from off the scene Its floating veil of mist is flung; And all the wilderness of
With trembling drops of light is hung.
Now gaze on Nature-yet the same- Glowing with life, by breezes fanned, Luxuriant, lovely, as she came,
Fresh in her youth, from God's own hand.
Hear the rich music of that voice,
Which sounds from all below, above;
She calls her children to rejoice,
And round them throws her arms of love.
Drink in her influence; low-born care, And all the train of mean desire, Refuse to breathe this holy air, And 'mid this living light expire.
The Child's Wish in June.-MRS. GILMAN.
MOTHER, mother, the winds are at play, Prithee, let me be idle to-day.
Look, dear mother, the flowers all lie Languidly under the bright blue sky. See, how slowly the streamlet glides; Look, how the violet roguishly hides; Even the butterfly rests on the rose, And scarcely sips the sweets as he goes. Poor Tray is asleep in the noon-day sun, And the flies go about him one by one; And pussy sits near with a sleepy grace, Without ever thinking of washing her face. There flies a bird to a neighboring tree, But very lazily flieth he,
And he sits and twitters a gentle note, That scarcely ruffles his little throat.
You bid me be busy; but, mother, hear How the hum-drum grasshopper soundeth near, And the soft west wind is so light in its play, It scarcely moves a leaf on the spray.
I wish, oh, I wish, I was yonder cloud, That sails about with its misty shroud; Books and work I no more should see,
And I'd come and float, dear mother, o'er thee.
From "The Minstrel Girl."-JAMES G. WHITTIER.
SHE leaned against her favorite tree, The golden sunlight melting through
The twined branches, as the free
And easy-pinioned breezes flew
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