Sooner the sunflower might forget to waken When the first radiance lights the eastern hill, Than I, by daily thoughts of thee forsaken, Feel, as they kindle, no expanding thrill. Oft, when at night the deck I'm pacing lonely Or when I pause to watch some fulgent star, Will Contemplation be retracing only Thy form, and fly to greet thee, though afar. When storms unleashed, with fearful I clangor sweeping, Drive our strained bark along the hollowed sea, When to the clouds the foam-topped waves are leaping, Even then I'll not forget, beloved one, thee! Hears distant welcomes in this last farewell! A THOUGHT OF THE PAST. WAKED from slumber at the dead of night, Moved by a dream too heavenly fair to last A dream of boyhood's season of delight; It flashed along the dim shapes of the past; And, as I mused upon its strange appeal, Thrilling me with emotions undefined, Old memories, bursting from Time's icy seal, Rushed, like sun-stricken fountains on my mind. Scenes where my lot was cast in life's young day; My favorite haunts, the shores, the ancient woods, Where, with my schoolmates, I was wont to stray; Green, sloping lawns, majestic solitudes All rose to view, more beautiful than then; They faded, and I wept-a child again! THE SPRING-TIME WILL RETURN. THE birds are mute, the bloom is fled, Cold, cold, the north winds blow; And radiant summer lieth dead Beneath a shroud of snow. Sweet summer! well may we regret Thy brief, too brief sojourn; SARGENT. But, while we grieve, we'll not forget, Her pennon twined around the taper- ing mast, And her loose sails like marble How, at an hour like this, the unruf- Partakes the quiet that is shed As if the Power that chained the im- With the same fetter of repose had TROPICAL WEATHER. Now we're afloat upon the tropic sea: How flash the waters in their bound- The sky's soft purple is without a stain. Full in our wake the smooth, warm trade-winds blowing, To their unvarying goal still faithful run; And, as we steer, with sails before them flowing, Nearer the zenith daily climbs the sun, The startled flying-fish around us skim, Glossed like the humming-bird, with rainbow dyes; And, as they dip into the water's brim, Swift in pursuit the preying dolphin hies. All, all is fair; and gazing round, we feel Over the yielding sense the torrid languor steal. CUBA. WHAT Sounds arouse me from my slumbers light? "Land ho! all hands, ahoy!" - I'm on the deck: As she were moored to her dark 'Tis early dawn: the day-star yet is bright; The cattle on a thousand hills Clip the sweet buds that grow The pebbles lie 'neath the sunny sky Rank from the soil enriched by herds Quiet forevermore; In dreams of everlasting peace They sleep upon the shore. But ugly, and rough, and jagged still, Are they left by the passing years; Sleeping long years below. To-day is but a structure built Upon dead yesterday; And Progress hews her temple-stones From wrecks of old decay. THE OLD MAN'S MOTTO. "GIVE me a motto," said a youth To one whom years had rendered wise; "Some pleasant thought, or weighty truth, That briefest syllables comprise; “And, reverend father," said the "Since life, they say, is ever made Since cares may come and pleas- Pray, let the motto have a range 66 Sooth!" said the sire, " methinks A labor something over-nice, "When wafted on by Fortune's breeze, In endless peace thou seem'st to Prepare betimes for rougher seas, pride; Though smiling joy is thine to-day, "When all the sky is draped in black, Then trim again thy tattered sails; "Thus, O my son, be not o'er-proud, Nor yet cast down; judge thou aright; When skies are clear, expect the cloud; In darkness, wait the coming light; Whatever be thy fate to-day, Remember, This will pass away!"" |