GO WHERE THE RIVER.

Should I, oh God! e'er doubt thy power,
This mighty scene again I'll seek,
At the same calm and glowing hour,
And here at the sublimest shrine
That nature ever reared to thee,

Rekindle all that hope divine,
And feel my immortality.

151

MOORE.

"GO WHERE THE RIVER."

Go where the river glideth gently ever,

Glideth through the meadows that the greenest be; Go listen to our own beloved river,

And think of me!

Wander in forests where the small flower layeth
Its fairy germ beneath the giant tree;

List where the wild brook pineth while it playeth,
And think of me!

Watch when the stars are silver pale at even,
And the wind grieveth in the lonely tree;
Go forth beneath the solitary Heaven,

And think of me!

When the moon riseth pale as she were dreaming,
And treadeth with white feet the lulled sea;
Go wander like a star beneath her beaming,

And think of me!

J. HAMILTON.

152

LINES TO MR. GEORGE BENNET.

TO MR. GEORGE BENNET,

On his intended visit to Otaheite.

Go, take the wings of morn,
And fly beyond the utmost sea,
Thou shalt not feel thyself forlorn,
Thy God is still with thee;

And where his Spirit bids thee dwell,

There, and there only, thou art well.

Forsake thy father-land,

Kindred, and friends, and pleasant home:
O'er many a rude barbarian strand,

In exile though thou roam,

Walk there with God, and thou shalt find

Double for all thy faith resign'd.

Launch boldly on the surge,

And in a light and fragile bark

Thy path through flood and tempest urge,

Like Noah in the ark—

Then tread, like him, a new world's shore,

Thine altar build, and God adore.

LINES TO MR. GEORGE BENNET.

Leave our Jerusalem,

Jehovah's temple and his rest;

Go, where no Sabbath brake on them
Whom Pagan gloom oppress'd,

Till bright, though late, around their isles
The gospel-dawn awoke in smiles:

Amidst that dawn from far,

Be thine expected presence shown,
Rise on them like the morning-star,
In glory-not thine own—

And tell them, while they hail the sight,
Who turn'd thy darkness into light.

Tell them, his hovering rays

Already gild their ocean's brim,

Ere long o'er heav'n and earth to blaze:
Direct all eyes to him,

The Sun of Righteousness, who brings

Mercy and healing on his wings.

Nor thou disdain to teach

To savage hordes, celestial truth

To infant tongues thy mother's speech

Ennobling arts to youth;

Till warriors fling their arms aside,

O'er bloodless fields the plough to guide.

153

154

LINES TO MR. GEORGE BENNET.

Train them, by patient toil,

To rule the waves, subdue the ground,
Enrich themselves with Nature's spoil,
With harvest-trophies crown'd,
Till coral-reefs 'midst desert seas
Become the true Hesperides.

Thus, then, in peace depart,

And angels guide thy footsteps,-No:
There is a feeling in the heart

That will not let thee

go:

Yet, go, thy spirit stays with me;
Yet, go, my spirit goes with thee!

Though the wide world between
Our feet conglobe its solid mass!
Though lands and waters intervene,

Which I must never pass:

Though day and night with thee be chang'd,
Seasons revers'd, and clime estrang'd:

Yet one in soul-and one

In faith, and hope, and purpose yet,
God's witness in the heav'ns-yon sun
Forbid thee to forget,

Those from whose eyes his orb retires,

When thine his morning-beauty fires!

LINES TO MR. GEORGE BENNET.

When tropic gloom returns,

Mark what new stars their vigils keep;
How glares the Wolf, the Phoenix burns;
And on the stormless deep,

The ship of heav'n-the patriarch's Dove,
The Emblem of redeeming love.*

While these enchant thine eye,
O think how often we have walk'd,
Gaz'd on the glories of our sky-
Of higher glories talk'd,

Till our hearts caught a kindling ray,
And burned within us by the way.

Those hours, those walks are past!
We part and ne'er again may meet;
Why are the joys that will not last,
So perishingly sweet?

Farewell! we surely meet again
In life or death: farewell till then!

155

J. MONTGOMERY.

• The Constellation Crux.