S THE EVENING WIND. PIRIT that breathest through my lattice, thou That coolst the twilight of the sultry day, Gratefully flows thy freshness round my brow; Thou hast been out upon the deep at play, Riding all day the wild blue waves till now, Roughening their crests, and scattering high their spray, And swelling the white sail I welcome thee Nor I alone; a thousand bosoms round Inhale thee in the fulness of delight; Go, rock the little wood-bird in his nest, Curl the still waters, bright with stars, and rouse The wide old wood from his majestic rest, Summoning from the innumerable boughs The strange, deep harmonies that haunt his breast: Pleasant shall be thy way where meekly bows The shutting flower, and darkling waters pass, And where the o'ershadowing branches sweep the grass. The faint old man shall lean his silver head To feel thee; thou shalt kiss the child asleep, And dry the moistened curls that overspread His temples, while his breathing grows more deep; And softly part his curtains to allow Go-but the circle of eternal change, Which is the life of Nature, shall restore, "Talisman," 1830. "WHEN THE FIRMAMENT QUIVERS." WHEN HEN the firmament quivers with daylight's young beam, And the woodlands awaking burst into a hymn, And the glow of the sky blazes back from the stream, How the bright ones of heaven in the brightness grow dim! Oh! 'tis sad, in that moment of glory and song, Till the circle of ether, deep, ruddy, and vast, Scarce glimmers with one of the train that were there; And their leader, the day-star, the brightest and last, Twinkles faintly and fades in that desert of air. Thus, Oblivion, from midst of whose shadow we came, Steals o'er us again when life's twilight is gone; And the crowd of bright names, in the heaven of fame, Grow pale and are quenched as the years hasten on. Let them fade-but we'll pray that the age, in whose flight, Of ourselves and our friends the remembrance shall die, May rise o'er the world, with the gladness and light Of the morning that withers the stars from the sky. New York, 1829. "Talisman," 1830. INNOCENT CHILD AND SNOW-WHITE I FLOWER." NNOCENT child and snow-white flower! Well are ye paired in your opening hour. White as those leaves, just blown apart; Artless one! though thou gazest now Fair as it is, thou wilt throw it by. Throw it aside in thy weary hour, Throw to the ground the fair white flower; Keep that white and innocent heart. New York, 1829. "Talisman," 1830. |