Doth often through the silence ring And a dreamy thought, as the sounds depart, In sweet, shrill, merry jargoning Of Edith and Nora comes o'er his heart. So that the Orphans almost think They are lying again on the broomy brink Of their native Dee—and scarcely know At Morning's first pure silent glow, If the change hath been to bliss or woe, A band of simple shepherds go As, 'mid that music wild, they seem To the Orphans' Cot, and there they behold To start back to life from a fairy-dream. The Dove so bright, with its plumes of gold, So all that most beautiful is above And the radiant Lamb, that used to glide Sends down to their rest its soul of love; So spirit-like by fair Edith's side. Nor have they in their bliss forgot Fair Creatures that no more were seen The walls, roof, and door, of their native On the sunny thatch or the flowery green, cot; Since the lovely Sisters had flown away, Nor the bed in which their parents died, And left their Cottage to decay! And they themselves slept side by side! Back to this world returned again, They know that Heaven hath brought them They seem in sadness and in pain, here, And coo and bleat is like the breath Lo! smiling on their rushy bed, Lie Edith and Nora-embraced—and dead! Unseen but by one gracious eye, A gentle frost has closed their eyes, That blest their infant-piety! And hushed — just hushed their balmy sighs. Over their lips, yet rosy red, gaze, A dimness hangs o'er their golden hair, As o'er Loch-Ken the moonlight plays, That sadly tells no life is there; And in the Planet's silvery glow, There beats no heart, no current flows Far shines the smooth sand, white as snow? In bosoms sunk in such repose; In Heaven or Lake there no breeze, Limbs may not that chill quiet have, Yet a glimmering Sail that shepherd sees, Unless laid ready for the grave. Swanlike steer on its stately way Silence lies there from face to feet, Into the little Crescent bay; And the bed she loves best is a winding-sheet. Now jocundly its fair gleam rearing, And now in darkness disappearing, Till 'mid the water-lilies riding It hangs, and to the green shore gliding Let the coffin sink down soft and slowly, Two lovely Creatures silently And calm be the burial of the holy! Sit down beneath the star-light sky, One long look in that mournful cellAnd look around, in deep delight, Let the green turf heave-and then, farewell! On all the pure still smiles of night. No need of tears! in this church-yard-shade As they sit in beauty on the shore, Oft had the happy Orphans played The shepherd feels he has seen before Above these quiet graves! and well they lie The quiet of their heavenly eyes : After a calm bright life of purity, 'Tis the Orphans come back from Paradise, Beneath the flowers that once sprung to Edith and Nora! They now return, meet When this woe-worn Land hath ceased to The motion of their now still feet! The mourners are leaving the buried clay, We thought them dead, but at Heaven's To the holy hush of the Sabbath-day, command, When a Lamb comes sadly bleating by, For years they have lived in Fairy-Land, And a Dove soft wavering throngh the sky. And they glide back by night to their little cot, And both lie down without a sound, O absent long, but by none forgot! In beauty on the funeral mound! What may these lovely creatures be? -Two sisters who died in infancy, The boat with its snow-white sail is gone, And thus had those they loved attended. And the Creatures it bronght to shore are And been by those they loved befriended! flown! Whate'er-fair Creatures! might be their Still the crowd of water-lilies shake, birth, And a long bright line shines o'er the Lake, Never more were they seen on earth; But nought else tells that a bark was near; But to young and old belief was given While the wildered shepherd seems to hear That with Edith and Nora they went to A wild hymn wandering through the wood, Heaven. Till it dies up the mountain-solitude; mourn. MY COTTA G E. Though in her image something terrible Weigh down his being with a load of awe, One small spot Love mingles with her wrath, like tender Where my tired mind may rest and call it home. light There is a magic in that little word ; Stream'd o'er a dying storm. And thus It is a mystic circle that surrounds where'er Comforts and virtues never known beyond The hallowed limit. Man feels as man, the earth is beautiful. SOUTHEY's Hymn to the Penates. His blessings sanctify even senseless things, And the wide world in cheerful loveliness Returns to him its joy. The summer-air, Hexe have I found at last a home of peace Whose glittering stillness sleeps within his To hide me from the world; far from its soul, noise, To feed that'spirit, which, though sprung Stirs with its own delight : the verdant earth, from earth, Like beauty waking from a happy dream, And links to human beings by the bond Lies smiling: each fair cloud to him appears Of earthly love, hath yet a loftier aim Than perishable joy, and through the calm And the wild wave, that wantons on the sea, A pilgrim travelling to the shrine of peace; That sleeps amid the mountain-solitude, Can hear the billows of eternity, A gay though homeless stranger. Ever blest And hear delighted. Many a mystic gleam, Linking his soul to outward Nature fair, The man who thus beholds the golden chain Lovely though faint, of imaged happiness, Full of the living God! And where, ye Fell on my youthful heart, as oft her light haunts Smiles on a wandering cloud, ere the fair of grandeur and of beauty! shall the heart, Moon That yearns for high communion with its God, That to such spiritual happiness could shape Abide, if e'er its dreams have been of you? The lonely reveries of my boyish days, The loveliest sounds, forms, hues, of all Are ye at last fulfillid? Ye fairy-scenes, the earth That to the doubting gaze of prophecy Rose lovely, with your fields of sunny green, Linger delighted here: here guilt might come, Your sparkling rivulets and hanging groves With sullen soul abhorring Nature's joy, of more than rainbow-lustre, where the And in a moment be restored to Heaven. swing Here sorrow, with a dimness o'er his face, Of woods primeval darken'd the still depth Might be beguiled to smiles, -almost forget Of lakes bold-sweeping round their guardian His sufferings, and, in Nature's living book, hills Even like the arms of Occan, where the roar Would, as it bless’d them, feel a rising swell Read characters so lovely, that his heart Sullen and far from mountain-cataract Was heard amid the silence, like a thought of many a secret anguish hast thou healed Almost like joy !-0 earthly paradise! Of solemn mood that tames the dancing soul Him, who now greets thee with a joyful When swarming with delights ;-Ye fairy strain. And oh! if in those elevated hopes That lean on virtue,- in those high resolves Hymning his midnight-orisons, to you That bring the future close upon the soul, I consecrate my life,- till the dim stain, And nobly dare its dangers ;-if in joy Left by those wordly and unhallow'd Yea! Faith and Adoration!—if the soul Whose vital spring is more than innocence, thoughts That taint the purest soul, by bliss destroyed, Of man may trust to these,-and they are strong, Strong as the prayer of dying penitent,- stolen Nor will the musing penance of the soul, On the decp peace of moon-beams to my Performed by moonlight, or the setting sun, heart, To hymn of swinging oak, or the wild flow Thou ! who with looks of mercy oft hast of mountain-torrent, ever lead her on cheer'd To virtue, but through peace. For Nature The starry silence, when, at noon of night, speaks On some wild mountain thou hast not declined A parent's language, and, in tones as mild The homage of thy lonely worshipper,Ar e'er hush'd infant on its mother's breast, Bear witness, Thou! thai, both in joy and Wins us to learn her lore. Yca! even to gricf, guilt, The love of nature long hath been with me own see moon The love of virtue:—that the solitude I hail'd the heavenly vision! Not a cloud, Of the remotest hills to me hath been Whose wreaths lay smiling in the lap of Thy temple :—that the fountain's happy light, voice Not one of all those sister-isles that sleep Hath sung thy goodness, and thy power Together, like a happy family has stunn'd Of beauty and of love, but will arise My spirit in the roaring cataract ! To cheer my parting spirit, and to tell All who have read her heart, and kept their shrine, Creating wisdom, the bright dreams of soul Senseless and cold. Aye, there are men who Will humanize the heart, and I shall be More worthy to be loved by those whose love The broad sun sinking in a blaze of light, Is highest praise :-that by the living light Nor feel their disembodied spirits hail That burns for ever in affection's breast, With adoration the departing God; I shall behold how fair and beautiful Who on the night-sky, when a cloudless A human form may be. -Oh, there are thoughts Glides in still beauty through unnumbered That slumber in the soul, like sweetest stars, sounds Can turn the eye unmoved, as if a wall Amid the harp's loose strings, till airs from Of darkness screen'd the glory from their Heaven souls. On earth, at dewy night-fall, visitant, With humble pride I bless the Holy One Awake the sleeping melody! Such thoughts, For sights to these denied. And oh! how oft My gentle Mary, I have owed to thee. In seasons of depression, when the lamp And if thy voice e'er melt into my soul Of life burn'd dim, and all unpleasant With a dear home-toned whisper,--if thy thoughts face Subdued the prond aspirings of the soul,- E’er brighten in the unsteady gleams of When doubts and fears witbheld the timid light eye From our own cottage-hearth;-0 Mary! From scanning scenes to come, and a deep then My overpowered spirit will recling Of human frailty tnrn'd the past to pain, Upon thy inmost heart, till it become, How oft bave I remember'd that a world O sinless seraph! almost worthy thee. Of glory lay around me, that a source Of lofty solace lay in every star, And that no being need behold the sun, Then will the earth, -that oft-times to And grieve, that knew Who hung him in the sky Of solitary lover seems o'erhung Thus unperceived I woke from heavy grief With too severe a shade, and faintly smiles To airy joy: and seeing that the mind With ineffectual beauty on his heart,Of man, though still the image of his God, Be clothed with everlasting joy ; like land Lean'd by his will on various happiness, Of blooming faery, or of boyhood's dreams I felt that all was good; that faculties, Ere life's first flush is o'er. Oft shall I turn Though low, might constitute, if rightly My vision from the glories of the scene used, To read them in thine eyes; and hidden True wisdom; and when man hath here grace, attain'd That slumbers in the crimson elonds of Even, The purpose of his being, he will sit Will reach my spirit through their varying Near Merey's throne, whether his course light, hath been Though viewless in the sky. Wandering Prone on the earth's dim sphere, or, as with with thee, wing A thousand beauties never seen before of viewless eagle, round the central blaze. Will glide with sweet surprise into my soul, Even in those fields where each particular tree Then ever shall the day that led me here Was look'd on as a friend,—where I had been Be held in blest remembrance. I shall see, Frequent, for years, among the lonely glens. Even at my dying hour, the glorious sun That made Winander one wide wave of gold, When first in transport from the mountain- Nor, 'mid the quiet of reflecting bliss top Will the faint image of the distant world sense the eye our ear see arms, Ne'er float before us:--Cities will arise The altered earth:--but other attributes Among the clouds that circle round the sun, Of Nature's heart will rule, and in the storm Gorgeous with tower and temple. The We shall behold the same prevailing Power night-voice That slumbers in the calm, and sanctify, of food and mountain to our ear will seem With adoration, the delight of love. Like life's loud stir :-and, as the dream dissolves, With burning spirit we will smile to see I lift my eyes upon the radiant Moon, Only the Moon rejoicing in the sky, That long unnoticed o'er my head has held And the still grandeur of the eternal hills. Her solitary walk, and as her light Recals my wandering soul, I start to feel That all has been a dream. Alone I stand Yet, though the fulness of domestic joy Amid the silence. Onward rolls the stream Bless our united beings, and the home Of time, while to my ear its waters sound Be ever happy where thy smiles are seen, With a strange rushing music. O my soul! Though human voice might never touch Whate'er betide, for aye remember thou These mystic warnings, for they are of From lip of friend or brother;-yet, oh! Heaven. THE PAS T. How wild and dim this Life appears! When o'er our eyes, half-clos'd in tears, With gladden'd spirit he will quickly own Are faintly glimmering by! And still forgotten while they go, Upon the blue and silent sky The amber clouds one moment lie, Though beautiful the inoon-beams play power Of beauty, working by the wavy green And the soul intensely loves their stay, Soon as the radiance melts away Of hill-ascending wood, the misty gleam We scarce believe it shone! of lakes reposing in their peaceful vales, And, lovelier than the loveliness below, Heaven-airs amid the harp-strings dwell, And we wish they ne'er may fadeThe moonlight-heaven, shall to his blood They cease! and the soul is a silent cell, restore Where music never played. Dream follows dream through the long night hours, When youth's bright years pass’d happily Each lovelier than the last away, Among his native bills, and all he knew But ere the breath of morning-flowers, Of crowded cities was from passing tale That gorgeous world flies past. Of traveller half-believed and soon forgotten. Whose smiles of love and kindness speak, And many a sweet angelic cheek, Glides by us on this earthAnd fear not, Mary! that, when winter Where shone the face we loved so well While in a day we cannot tell comes, These solitary mountains will resign In sadness or in mirth. frames, awhile Thy noiseless hoines were sleeping! FIRST DREAM. It is the merry month of June, Seemed water changed to snow. And creatures all of air and earth Beauty lies spread before my sight, Should now their holiday of mirth But grief-like shadows dim its light, With dance and song be keeping. And all the scene appears And glimmering through our tears! Sweet Woodburn! like a cloud that name 'Tis not the day to Scotia dear, Comes floating o'er my soul! Although thy beauty still survive, One look hath changed the whole. The small kirk-steeple looks around, The gayest village of the gay Enshrouded in a calm Beside thy own sweet river, Profound as fills the house of prayer, Wert thou on week- or sabbath-day! Ere from the band of virgins fair So bathed in the blue light of joy, Exhales the choral-psalm. As if no trouble could destroy A sight so steeped in perfect rest Peace doomed to last for ever. Is slumbering not on nature's breast Now in the shadoy of thy trees In the smiles of earthly day! Still lovely in the tainted breeze, 'Tis a picture floating down the sky, The fell Plague-Spirit grimly lies of uncomplaining lifelessness, That thought is gone!—the Village still On the troops of silent shades that press With deepening quiet crowns the hill, Into the church-yard's cold recess, From that region of delight. Last summer from the school-house-door, When the glad play-bell was ringing, Is this the day when to the mountains What shoals of bright-haired elves would The happy shepherds go, pour, And bathe in sparkling pools and fountains Like small waves racing on the shore, Their flocks made white as snow? In dance of rapture singing! Hath gentle girl and gamesome boy, Oft by yon little silver well, With mcek-eyed mirth or shouting joy, Now sleeping in neglected cell, Gone tripping up the brae? The village-maid would stand, Till far behind their town doth stand, While resting on the mossy bank Like an image in sweet Fairy-Land, With freshened soul the traveller drank When the Elves have flown away! The cold cup from her hand; -0 sure if aught of human breath Haply some soldier from the war, Within these walls remain, Who would remember long and far Thus deepening in the hush of death, That Lily of the Land. "Tis but some melancholy crone, And still the green is bright with flowers, Who sits with solemn eyes And dancing through the sunny hours, Beside the cradle all alone, Like blossoms from enchanted bowers And lulls the infant with a strain On a sudden wafted by, Obedient to the changeful air, Glide bird and butterfly. That revelled on with dance and shout And when the cloudless sun rides high Against their airy prey? Above the glittering air of noon, Alas! the fearless linnet sings, All nature sinks opprest, And the bright insect folds its wings And labour shuts his weary eye Upon the dewy flower that springs In the mid-day hour of rest. Above these children's clay. And if to yon deserted weil As she was wont at eve, should go Walks home, afraid to think |