Page images
PDF
EPUB

We saw her treasures cast away

The rocks with pearls were sown, And strangely sad, the ruby's ray

Flash'd out o'er fretted stone.

And gold was strewn the wet sands o'er,
Like ashes by a breeze-

And gorgeous robes-but oh! that shore
Had sadder things than these!

We saw the strong man still and low,
A crush'd reed thrown aside-

Yet by that rigid lip and brow,
Not without strife he died.

And near him on the sea-weed lay—
Till then we had not wept,

But well our gushing hearts might say,
That there a mother slept!

For her pale arms a babe had prest,

With such a wreathing grasp, Billows had dash'd o'er that fond breast,

Yet not undone the clasp. Her very tresses had been flung

To wrap the fair child's form,

Where still their wet long streamers clung,

All tangled by the storm.

And beautiful 'midst that wild scene,

Gleam'd up the boy's dead face, Like Slumber's, trustingly serene,

In melancholy grace.

Deep in her bosom lay his head,

With half-shut violet eyeHe had known little of her dread, Nought of her agony !

Oh! human Love, whose yearning heart,

Through all things vainly true,

So stamps upon thy mortal part

Its passionate adieu

Surely thou hast another lot,

There is some home for thee,

Where thou shalt rest, remembering not

The moaning of the sea!

A VOYAGER'S DREAM OF LAND.

-His very heart athirst

To gaze at Nature in her green array,

Upon the ship's tall side he stands, possess'd
With visions prompted by intense desire;

Fair fields appear below, such as he left

Far distant, such as he would die to find

He seeks them headlong, and is seen no more.

Cowper.

THE hollow dash of waves !—the ceaseless roar !
Silence, ye billows-vex my soul no more!

There's a spring in the woods by my sunny home,
Afar from the dark sea's tossing foam;

Oh! the fall of that fountain is sweet to hear,
As a song from the shore to the sailor's ear.
And the sparkle which up to the sun it throws,
Through the feathery fern, and the olive boughs,

And the gleam on its path as it steals away
Into deeper shades from the sultry day,
And the large water-lilies that o'er its bed

Their pearly leaves to the soft light spread,

They haunt me !-I dream of that bright spring's flow,
I thirst for its rills, like a wounded roe.

Be still, thou sea-bird, with thy clanging cry,
My spirit sickens as thy wing sweeps by!

Know ye my home, with the lulling sound
Of leaves from the lime and the chestnut round?
Know ye it, brethren, where bower'd it lies,
Under the purple of southern skies?

With the streamy gold of the sun that shines
In through the cloud of its clustering vines,
And the breath of the fainting myrtle-flowers,
Borne from the mountains in dewy hours,

And the fire-fly's glance through the darkening shades,
Like shooting stars in the forest-glades,

And the scent of the citron at eve's dim fall—

Speak!-have ye known, have ye felt them all?

The heavy-rolling surge,-the rocking mast!

Hush!-give my dream's deep music way, thou blast!

70

A VOYAGER'S DREAM OF LAND.

Oh! the glad sounds of the joyous earth!
The notes of the singing cicala's mirth,
The murmurs that live in the mountain-pines,
The sighing of reeds as the day declines,

The wings flitting home through the crimson glow
That steeps the woods when the sun is low,

The voice of the night-bird that sends a thrill

To the heart of the leaves when the winds are still-
I hear them!-around me they rise, they swell,

They claim back my spirit with Hope to dwell,
They come with a breath from the fresh spring-time,
And waken my youth in its hour of prime.

The white foam dashes high-away, away,

Shroud my green land no more, thou blinding spray!

It is there!-down the mountains I see the sweep
Of the chestnut forests, the rich and deep;
With the burden and glory of flowers that they wear,
Floating upborne on the blue summer-air,

And the light pouring through them in tender gleams,
And the flashing forth of a thousand streams.
-Hold me not, brethren, I go, I go,

To the hills of my youth, where the myrtles blow,

« PreviousContinue »