For then sweet dreams of other days arise,

And memory breathes her vesper sigh to thee. And, as I watch the line of light, that plays

Along the smooth wave toward the burning west, I long to tread that golden path of rays,

And think 'twould lead to some bright isle of rest.

TAKE BACK THE VIRGIN PAGE.

WRITTEN ON RETURNING A BLANK BOOK.

TAKE back the virgin page,

White and unwritten still;

Some hand, more calm and sage,

The leaf must fill.

Thoughts come as pure as light,

Pure as even you require:
But oh! each word I write

Love turns to fire.

Yet let me keep the book:
Oft shall my heart renew,
When on its leaves I look,
Dear thoughts of you.
Like you, 'tis fair and bright;
Like you, too bright and fair
To let wild passion write
One wrong wish there.

WHEN in death I shall calm recline,

O bear my heart to my mistress dear;

Tell her it lived upon smiles and wine

Of the brightest hue, while it lingered here. Bid her not shed one tear of sorrow,

To sully a heart so brilliant and light; But balmy drops of the red grape borrow, To bathe the relic from morn till night.

25

When the light of my song is o'er,

Then take my harp to your ancient hall; Hang it up at that friendly door,

Where weary travellers love to call.
Then if some bard, who roams forsaken,
Revive its soft note in passing along,

Oh! let one thought of its master waken
Your warmest smile for the child of song

Keep this cup, which is now o'erflowing,
To grace your revel when I'm at rest;
Never, oh! never its balm bestowing

On lips that beauty hath seldom blest.
But when some warm devoted lover

To her he adores shall bathe its brim, Then, then my spirit around shall hover, And hallow each drop that foams for him

HOW OFT HAS THE BENSHEE CRIED.

How oft has the Benshee cried!

How oft has death untied

Bright links that glory wove,

Sweet bonds entwined by Love!

Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth.
Rest to each faithful eye that weepeth:

Long may the fair and brave
Sigh o'er the hero's grave!

WE MAY ROAM THROUGH THIS WORLD. ` 27

We're fallen upon gloomy days!

Star after star decays,

Every bright name that shed

Light o'er the land is fled.

Dark falls the tear of him who mourneth

Lost joy, or hope that ne'er returneth :
But brightly flows the tear
Wept o'er a hero's bier.

Quenched are our beacon lights-
Thou, of the Hundred Fights!
Thou, on whose burning tongue

Truth, peace, and freedom hung!
Both mute, but long as valor shineth,
Or mercy's soul at war repineth,

So long shall Erin's pride

Tell how they lived and died.

WE MAY ROAM THROUGH THIS WORLD.

WE may roam through this world, like a child at a feast,
Who but sips of a sweet, and then flies to the rest;
And, when pleasure begins to grow dull in the east,
We may order our wings, and be off to the west;
But if hearts that feel, and eyes that smile,
Are the dearest gifts that Heaven supplies,
We never need leave our own green isle,

For sensitive hearts, and for sun-bright eyes.

Then remember, wherever your goblet is crowned,

Through this world, whether eastward or westward you roam, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, Oh! remember the smile that adorns her at home.

In England, the garden of Beauty is kept
By a dragon of prudery placed within call;

But so oft this unamiable dragon has slept,

That the garden's but carelessly watched after all. Oh! they want the wild sweet-briery fence

Which round the flowers of Erin dwells;

Which warns the touch, while winning the sense,
Nor charms us least when it most repels.
Then remember, wherever your goblet is crowned,

Through this world, whether eastward or westward you roam,
When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round,
Oh! remember the smile that adorns her at home

In France, when the heart of a woman sets sail
On the ocean of wedlock its fortune to try,
Love seldom goes far in a vessel so frail,

But just pilots her off, and then bids her good-bye.
While the daughters of Erin keep the boy,

Ever smiling beside his faithful oar,

Through billows of woe and beams of joy,

The same as he looked when he left the shore.

Then remember, wherever your goblet is crowned,

Through this world, whether eastward or westward you roam, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, Oh! remember the smile that adorns her at home.