A PRESENTIMENT.

"OH father, let us hence-for hark,
A fearful murmur shakes the air;
The clouds are coming swift and dark ;—
What horrid shapes they wear!

A winged giant sails the sky;

Oh father, father, let us fly!"

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"Hush, child; it is a grateful sound,

That beating of the summer shower; Here, where the boughs hang close around We'll pass a pleasant hour,

Till the fresh wind, that brings the rain, Has swept the broad heaven clear again."

"Nay, father, let us haste-for see,
That horrid thing with hornèd brow―
His wings o'erhang this very tree,
He scowls upon us now;
His huge black arm is lifted high;

Oh father, father, let us fly!"

"Hush child; " but, as the father spoke,

Downward the livid firebolt came,

Close to his ear the thunder broke,
And, blasted by the flame,

The child lay dead; while dark and still
Swept the grim cloud along the hill.

THE CHILD'S FUNERAL.

FAIR is thy sight, Sorrento, green thy shore,

Black crags behind thee pierce the clear blue skies; The sea, whose borderers ruled the world of yore, As clear and bluer still before thee lies.

Vesuvius smokes in sight, whose fount of fire,
Outgushing, drowned the cities on his steeps;
And murmuring Naples, spire o'ertopping spire,
Sits on the slope beyond where Virgil sleeps.

Here doth the earth, with flowers of every hue,
Prank her green breast when April suns are bright;
Flowers of the morning-red, or ocean-blue,
Or like the mountain-frost of silvery white.

Currents of fragrance, from the orange-tree,
And sward of violets, breathing to and fro,
Mingle, and wandering out upon the sea,

Refresh the idle boatsman where they blow.

Yet even here, as under harsher climes,

Tears for the loved and early lost are shed; That soft air saddens with the funeral-chimes, Those shining flowers are gathered for the dead.

Here once a child, a smiling playful one,

All the day long caressing and caressed, Died when its little tongue had just begun

To lisp the names of those it loved the best

The father strove his struggling grief to quell,
The mother wept as mothers use to weep,
Two little sisters wearied them to tell

When their dear Carlo would awake from sleep.

Within an inner room his couch they spread,

His funeral-couch; with mingled grief and love, They laid a crown of roses on his head,

And murmured, “Brighter is his crown above."

They scattered round him, on the snowy sheet,
Laburnum's strings of sunny-colored gems,
Sad hyacinths, and violets dim and sweet,

And orange-blossoms on their dark-green stems.

And now the hour is come, the priest is there;
Torches are lit and bells are tolled; they go,
With solemn rites of blessing and of prayer,
To lay the little one in earth below.

The door is opened; hark! that quick glad cry; Carlo has waked, has waked, and is at play; The little sisters laugh and leap, and try

To climb the bed on which the infant lay.

And there he sits alive, and gayly shakes

In his full hands, the blossoms red and white, And smiles with winking eyes, like one who wakes From long deep slumbers at the morning light.

THE BATTLE-FIELD.

ONCE this soft turf, this rivulet's sands,
Were trampled by a hurrying crowd,
And fiery hearts and armèd hands
Encountered in the battle-cloud.

Ah! never shall the land forget

How gushed the life-blood of her braveGushed, warm with hope and courage yet, Upon the soil they fought to save.

Now all is calm, and fresh, and still;
Alone the chirp of flitting bird,

And talk of children on the hill,

And bell of wandering kine, are heard.

No solemn host goes trailing by

The black-mouthed gun and staggering wain; Men start not at the battle-cry,

Oh, be it never heard again!

Soon rested those who fought; but thou
Who minglest in the harder strife
For truths which men receive not now,
Thy warfare only ends with life.

A friendless warfare! lingering long
Through weary day and weary year.
A wild and many-weaponed throng

Hang on thy front, and flank, and rear.

Yet nerve thy spirit to the proof,
And blench not at thy chosen lot.
The timid good may stand aloof,

The sage may frown-yet faint thou not.

Nor heed the shaft too surely cast,
The foul and hissing bolt of scorn;
For with thy side shall dwell, at last,
The victory of endurance born.

Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again;
Th' eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies among his worshippers.

Yea, though thou lie upon the dust,
When they who helped thee flee in fear,

Die full of hope and manly trust,

Like those who fell in battle here.

Another hand thy sword shall wield,
Another hand the standard wave,

Till from the trumpet's mouth is pealed
The blast of triumph o'er thy grave.

THE FUTURE LIFE.

How shall I know thee in the sphere which keeps
The disembodied spirits of the dead,

When all of thee that time could wither sleeps
And perishes among the dust we tread?