MAIDENHOOD. Gazing, with a timid glance, On the brooklet's swift advance, Deep and still, that gliding stream Then why pause with indecision, Beckon thee to fields Elysian? Seest thou shadows sailing by, Hearest thou voices on the shore, 201 O, thou child of many prayers! Life hath quicksands,-Life hath snares! Like the swell of some sweet tune, Morning rises into noon, May glides onward into June. Childhood is the bough, where slumbered Gather, then, each flower that grows, Bear a lily in thy hand; Gates of brass cannot withstand One touch of that magic wand. 265 MAIDENHOOD. Bear through sorrow, wrong, and ruth, In thy heart the dew of youth, O, that dew, like balm, shall steal And that smile, like sunshine, dart Into many a sunless heart, For a smile of God thou art. EXCELSIOR. THE shades of night were falling fast, As through an Alpine village passed A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, A banner with the strange device Excelsior! His brow was sad; his eye beneath, Flashed like a falchion from its sheath And like a silver clarion rung The accents of that unknown tongue, Excelsior! |