M'

1860.

Y loving, constant, faithful, gentle wife,
The evening star, when day prepares to
part,

Sheds not a sweeter radiance o'er the sky
Than thou amid the shadows on my heart.

I hail the sweet return, on annual wing,

Of that memorial morn of wedded love,
When like a snow-drop in the early spring,
Or voice in Eastern land of turtle-dove,

I knew by thee the winter past and gone,
And summer came with melody and flowers;
Thou wast the prophet of a sacred home,
And seasons guarded by celestial powers.

And still, beloved wife, but one in heart,
In the sweet union of our bridal vow,
Dear loving wife, our Lord's injunction given
In blissful tenderness to us below,

Is the sure prophet of that love in heaven.

Of which his grace permits some foretastes now,

Dear Earnests of the bliss awaiting there

The objects of his never-ceasing care.

OH,

1861.

H, dearest wife, the strength of love
Can ne'er be known by speech;

The ocean of its sacred depths

No measuring line can reach.

In vain shall poetry essay
Its form divine to paint;
But every lover knows to-day
It makes him half a saint,

And half a poet. Witness bear,

Ye masters of the lyre!

Who taught your ardent strains to breathe Creative power and fire?

Was it not love? Could e'er on carth
So blest a school be found,

As that which God hath set within

Each household's sacred bound?

Though sixteen years their course have run

Since ours commenced its rule, Love's lessons still we learn by heart, Content to stay at school;

And willing, in the world's esteem,

Its wisest fools to be;

Obedient to the Gospel scheme
Of love's true liberty.

SING

1862.

INCE every day doth but repeat The love with which our life begun, Truly the morning light is sweet, 'Tis pleasant to behold the sun, In whose dear realm we journey on; Each year more perfect and complete The vow that made our being one.

We see the clouds with mercy fraught,
And brightly shining through our tears,
The Love Supreme that rules our lot;
A rainbow in the sky appears,
Whose span divine controls our fears,
By the same hand of glory wrought,
That binds the comets in their spheres.

And e'en amid the gloom of war

The love that was our morning light

Looks on us as the evening star,

And will be shining all the night,

Which as a day of Heaven is bright
For souls that, dreaming, see afar
The stairs that greeted Jacob's sight.

Angelic visitants are ours;

For though their flaming wings they hide, Not less they work as heavenly powers For Him who doth for those provide

That in his promises confide,

Protecting their defenceless hours, And turning every dart aside.

And if it well be understood,

Love's promise can be heard to say
That every hindrance is for good;
Each form of seeming sad delay
Is but an inn upon the road,

Or sweet refreshment in the way,
By which we travel up to God.