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MYSTERIOUS MUSIC OF OCEAN.

I feel it were not wrong

To deem thou art a type of heaven's clime,
Only that there the clouds and storms of time
Sweep not the sky along;

The flowers-air-beauty-music-all are thine,
But brighter-purer-lovelier-more divine!

MYSTERIOUS MUSIC OF OCEAN.

BY CARTER MORRIS.

"And the people of this place say, that, at certain seasons, beauti. ful sounds are heard from the ocean.”—MAVOR's Voyages.

LONELY and wild it rose,

That strain of solemn music from the sea,
As though the bright air trembled to disclose
An ocean mystery.

Again a low, sweet tone,

Fainting in murmurs on the listening day,
Just bade the excited thought its presence own,
Then died away.

Once more the gush of sound,

Struggling and swelling from the heaving plain,
Thrill'd a rich peal triumphantly around,

And fled again,

O, boundless deep! we know

Thou hast strange wonders in thy gloom conceal'd,
Gems, flashing gems, from whose unearthly glow

Sunlight is seal'd,

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MYSTERIOUS MUSIC OF OCEAN.

And an eternal spring

Showers her rich colours with unsparing hand,
Where coral trees their graceful branches fling
O'er golden sand.

But tell, O, restless main!

Who are the dwellers in thy world beneath,
That thus the watery realm cannot contain
The joy they breathe?

Emblem of glorious might!

Are thy wild children like thyself array'd,
Strong in immortal and uncheck'd delight,
Which cannot fade?

Or to mankind allied,

Toiling with woe, and passion's fiery sting,
Like their own home, where storms or peace preside,
As the winds bring?

Alas for human thought!

How does it flee existence, worn and old,
To win companionship with beings wrought
Of finer mould!

'Tis vain-the reckless waves

Join with loud revel the dim ages flown,

But keep each secret of their hidden caves
Dark and unknown.

19*

TO THE EAGLE.

BY J. G. PERCIVAL.

BIRD of the broad and sweeping wing,
Thy home is high in heaven,

Where wide the storms their banners fling,
And the tempest clouds are driven.
Thy throne is on the mountain top;
Thy fields, the boundless air;
And hoary peaks, that proudly prop
The skies, thy dwellings are,

Thou sittest like a thing of light,
Amid the noontide blaze:

The midway sun is clear and bright;
It cannot dim thy gaze.

Thy pinions, to the rushing blast,

O'er the bursting billow, spread,

Where the vessel plunges, hurry past,
Like an angel of the dead,

Thou art perch'd aloft on the beetling crag,
And the waves are white below,

And on, with a haste that cannot lag,

They rush in an endless flow.

Again thou hast plumed thy wing for flight

To lands beyond the sea,

And away, like a spirit wreath'd in light,
Thou hurriest, wild and free.

TO THE EAGLE.

Thou hurriest over the myriad waves,

And thou leavest them all behind;

Thou sweepest that place of unknown graves,
Fleet as the tempest wind.

When the night-storm gathers dim and dark,

With a shrill and boding scream, Thou rushest by the foundering bark,

Quick as a passing dream.

Lord of the boundless realm of air,

In thy imperial name,

The hearts of the bold and ardent dare
The dangerous path of fame.
Beneath the shade of thy golden wings,
The Roman legions bore,

From the river of Egypt's cloudy springs,
Their pride, to the polar shore.

For thee they fought, for thee they fell,
And their oath was on thee laid;
To thee the clarions raised their swell,
And the dying warrior pray'd.

Thou wert, through an age of death and fears,
The image of pride and power,

Till the gather'd rage of a thousand years
Burst forth in one awful hour.

And then a deluge of wrath it came,

And the nations shook with dread;

And it swept the earth till its fields were flame,
And piled with the mingled dead.

Kings were roll'd in the wasteful flood,
With the low and crouching slave;
And together lay, in a shroud of blood,
The coward and the brave.

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224

TO THE EAGLE.

And where was then thy fearless flight?
“O'er the dark, mysterious sea,

To the lands that caught the setting light,
The cradle of Liberty.

There, on the silent and lonely shore,
For ages, I watch'd alone,

And the world, in its darkness, ask'd no more
Where the glorious bird had flown.

"But then came a bold and hardy few,
And they breasted the unknown wave;
I caught afar the wandering crew;

And I knew they were high and brave.
I wheel'd around the welcome bark,
As it sought the desolate shore,
And up to heaven, like a joyous lark,
My quivering pinions bore,

"And now that bold and hardy few

Are a nation wide and strong;

And danger and doubt I have lead them through,
And they worship me in song;

And over their bright and glancing arms,
On field, and lake, and sea,

With an eye that fires, and a spell that charms,
I guide them to victory."