And parted as young brothers part,
With love in each unsullied heart.

They parted-soon the paths divide
Wherein our steps were one,
Like river-branches, far and wide,
Dissevering as they run;

And making strangers in their course,
Of waves that had the same bright source.

Met they no more?-once more they met,
Those kindred hearts and true!
'Twas on a field of death, where yet
The battle-thunders flew,

Though the fierce day was wellnigh past,
And the red sunset smiled its last.

But as the combat closed, they found
For tender thoughts a space,
And e'en upon that bloody ground
Room for one bright embrace,
And pour'd forth on each other's neck
Such tears as warriors need not check.

The mists o'er boyhood's memory spread All melted with those tears,

The faces of the holy dead

Rose as in vanish'd years;

The Rhine, the Rhine, the ever blest,
Lifted its voice in each full breast!

Oh! was it then a time to die?
It was!-that not in vain
The soul of childhood's purity

And peace might turn again:
A ball swept forth-'twas guided well-
Heart unto heart those brothers fell!

Happy, yes, happy thus to go!

Bearing from earth away
Affections, gifted ne'er to know
A shadow-a decay.

A passing touch of change or chill,
A breath of aught whose breath can kill.

And they, between whose sever'd souls,

Once in close union tied,

A gulf is set, a current rolls

For ever to divide ;

Well may they envy such a lot,

Whose hearts yearn on-but mingle not.

THE LAST WISH.

"Well may I weep to leave this world-thee-all these beautiful woods, and plains, and hills.'

Go to the forest shade,

Lights and Shadows.

Seek thou the well-known glade,

Where, heavy with sweet dew, the violets lie,
Gleaming through moss-tufts deep,

Like dark eyes fill'd with sleep,

And bathed in hues of Summer's midnight sky.

Bring me their buds, to shed
Around my dying bed

A breath of May and of the wood's repose;
For I in sooth, depart

With a reluctant heart,

That fain would linger where the bright sun glows.

Fain would I stay with thee

Alas! this may not be;

Yet bring me still the gifts of happier hours!
Go where the fountain's breast

Catches, in glassy rest,

The dim green light that pours through laurel bowers.

I know how softly bright,
Steep'd in that tender light,

The water-lilies tremble there e'en now;

Go to the pure stream's edge,

And from its whisp'ring sedge

Bring me those flowers to cool my fever'd brow!

Then, as in Hope's young days,
Track thou the antique maze

Of the rich garden to its grassy mound;

There is a lone white rose,

Shedding, in sudden snows,

Its faint leaves o'er the emerald turf around.

Well know'st thou that fair tree

A murmur of the bee

Dwells ever in the honey'd lime above;

Bring me one pearly flower

Of all its clustering shower

For on that spot we first reveal'd our love.

Gather one woodbine bough,

Then, from the lattice low

Of the bower'd cottage which I bade thee mark,
When by the hamlet last,

Through dim wood lanes we pass'd,

While dews were glancing to the glowworm's spark.

Haste! to my pillow bear

Those fragrant things and fair;

My hand no more may bind them up at eve-
Yet shall their odour soft

One bright dream round me waft

Of life, youth, summer- -all that I must leave!

The

And, oh! if thou would'st ask

Wherefore thy steps I task,

grove, the stream, the hamlet vale to trace'Tis that some thought of me,

When I am gone, may be

The spirit bound to each familiar place.

I bid mine image dwell

(Oh! break not thou the spell!) In the deep wood and by the fountain side; Thou must not, my beloved!

Rove where we two have roved,

Forgetting her that in her Spring-time died!

FAIRY FAVOURS.

Give me but

Something whereunto I may bind my heart:

Something to love, to rest upon, to clasp

Affection's tendrils round.

WOULD'ST thou wear the gift of immortal bloom?
Would'st thou smile in scorn at the shadowy tomb?
Drink of this cup! it is richly fraught

With balm from the gardens of genii brought;
Drink, and the spoiler shall pass thee by,

When the

young all scatter'd like rose leaves lie.

my

And would not the youth of
soul be gone,
If the loved had left me, one by one?
Take back the cup that may never bless,
The gift that would make me brotherless;
How should I live, with no kindred

To reflect mine immortality?

eye

Would'st thou have empire, by sign or spell,

Over the mighty in air that dwell?

Would'st thou call the spirits of shore and steep

To fetch thee jewels from ocean's deep?
Wave but this rod, and a viewless band,
Slaves to thy will, shall around thee stand.

And would not fear, at my coming then,
Hush every voice in the homes of men?
Would not bright eyes in my presence quail?
Young cheeks with a nameless thrill turn pale?
No gift be mine that aside would turn
The human love for whose founts I yearn!