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PERKINS LIBRARY 
 
 Duke University 
 
 Kare Dooks 
 
 Purchased by 
 
 G- 
 
 TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 May. 1921 
 

 
 
JH _E S j? JE JEv j, 
 
 <« 
 
 AND 
 
 should occur but once. 
 
 On page 65, 6th line, read ,; came" for "come." 
 
 On page 95, one line from the bottom, read 
 "steeds" for "siuds." 
 
 The following errors appear in a few copies of 
 this edition : 
 
 On page 35, last line, read "though" instead 
 of "through" and on page 77. 6th line, "sung" 
 instead of " song. 11 
 
 

ElESJPER, 
 
 «* 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER POEMS, 
 
 BY 
 
 THEO. H. HILL 
 
 " Meantime, not emulous of highest Praise, 
 
 At sweet Parnassus' flow'ry Foot I lie, 
 And drink enraptur'd the descending Lays, 
 
 Or in short Plights my tender Pinions try: 
 So in the humble Vale the Linnet flies, 
 
 While the strong Eagle sails along the Skies." 
 
 Thomas Gibbous. 
 
 RALEIGH: 
 
 STROTHER k MARCOM TUBLISIIERH. 
 MDCCCLXI. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in 
 the year 1861, 
 
 By THEO. II . HILL, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the 
 Confederate States, for the District of Pam- 
 lico, North Carolina. 
 

 - 
 
 ®o Jordan Wftambh, <Jr., 
 
 OF RALEIGH, N. 0., 
 
 (as a trivial token or no light esteem,) 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS DEDICATED, BY niS FRIEND, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 The author styles his verses " Poems," 
 in compliance with a courteous custom, 
 which thus entitles all compositions in 
 rhyme. Written in moments of leisure, 
 merely for his own amusement, they 
 are published now at the suggestion of 
 friends, whose partiality has attributed 
 to them an intrinsic merit they may not 
 really possess. 
 
 T. H. H. 
 Raleigh, December, 1861. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Hesper, 11 
 
 Anacreontic, 13 
 
 Love Among the Roses 17 
 Hope of Heaven, - - - -20 
 
 To L. F. P. - - - - . 23 
 
 Clouds with Silver Linings, - - 25 
 
 Duni Vivimus, Vivamus,- 28 
 
 Despair, . 30 
 
 Song of the Butterfly, 33 
 
 The Star above .the Manger, - - 37 
 
 Antipodes, 41 
 
 St. Valentine's Day, - - - - 43 
 
 Ode to Sleep, 46 
 
 Darkness, 48 
 
 Banished Rome .... 49 
 
VIII CONTENTS. 
 
 Taking a Snooze, - . - - 51 
 
 Indian Summer, .... 53 
 
 Hope, 54 
 
 Love, 58 
 
 Joy, 60 
 
 Violets, 61 
 
 Wooed, Won, Forsaken, - - - 65 
 
 Reveille, 67 
 
 The Shadow of the Rock, - - 69 
 
 Stella 70 
 
 Dulcamara, 73 
 
 The Light of the Lattice, - - 75 
 " My Hopes like Waning Watch-fires 
 
 Glow," 76 
 
 " Tear Down that Flag," - - - 78 
 
 EARLIER POEMS. 
 
 Flowers for Mary - - - - 80 
 
 Perdite - - 83 
 
 The Sunbeam, 85 
 
 Horse Halcyonse 87 
 
 Life and Death, 91 
 
 The Combatants, 93 
 
HESPER. 
 
HESPEE. 
 
 " M*hat time the stars first flocked into the blue 
 Behind young Hespcr, Shepherd of the eve." 
 
 Thos. Buchanan Reap. 
 
 The brilliant evening Star to-night, 
 Gleams through the dusky air; 
 As though some seraph in his flight, 
 Through the unclouded realms of light, 
 
 Had paused an instant there ; — 
 Had paused and silently surveyed 
 
 The dreaming world below ; 
 Then flown away to Eden's shade 
 
 Where " living waters " flow : 
 Mcthiuks some bright unearthly gem 
 
12 HESPER. 
 
 Fell from his flashing diadem, 
 
 For, when he winged his flight afar 
 
 Through the enchanted air, 
 
 A light remained, — the evening star 
 
 Shone forth serenely there ! 
 
 ' Tis thus the great — the good depart, 
 
 And leave a beacon-light, 
 To cheer the pilgrim's drooping heart 
 
 And guide his feet aright : 
 
 Hence we revere the sage — the seer 
 
 Of every age and clime; 
 Whose priceless gems still sparkle here 
 
 Upon the strand of time. 
 
ANACREONTIC. 
 
 •* I awoke the next morning -with an aching head and feverish frame. Ah, 
 those midnight carousals, how glorious they would be if there were no next 
 morning ?" * 
 
 Sir E. Bulweb Lvtton. 
 
 Fill up! fill up! 
 
 The poison-cup 
 
 With Lethe to the brim; 
 I yearn — I pine — I faint — I thirst 
 
 To see the brilliant bubbles burst 
 
 Around its rosy rim : 
 
 Then, let me drain 
 
 The bowl again, 
 
 And fill it up once more \ 
 
 For fearful phantoms haunt my brain, 
 
 And at the open door 
 
 ♦rclham. ch. xxiii. 
 
 13 
 
14 ANACREONTIC. 
 
 A ghastly group of fiends appear — 
 Their hollow laughter racks niy ear, 
 See ! how malignantly they leer 
 
 Upon the wreck they've made : 
 They little care that honor, wealth, 
 And home, and happiness, and health 
 
 Are blighted and betrayed I 
 
 Fill up ! fill up ! 
 The sparkling cup : — 
 It is with Lethe fraught ! 
 It drowns reflection, palsies thought, 
 
 Binds memory in chains, 
 And bids the hot blood leap and dart, 
 Like molten lava from my heart 
 To fire the sluggish veins ! 
 
 Fill to the brim and I will drink, 
 " To Memory and Thought, 
 
 Eternal death," — for oh ! to tliinlc, 
 Is with such horror fraught — 
 That hell would be 
 
ANACREONTIC. 15 
 
 A heaven to me 
 
 Were memory no more : 
 Aye ! could I never think again — 
 
 Never the past deplore, 
 I should no longer here remain, 
 For hell can have no penal pain 
 In all its fiery domain, 
 
 So fearful unto me ; 
 As the scorpion sting 
 Of that terrible thing, 
 
 Which we call memory ! 
 
 «J* *i* i'. -.l- »!.- •£• 
 
 ^m *y» >J» *X* *T* "T* 
 
 To dream of all that I am now — - 
 
 Of all I might have been — 
 The crown of thorns upon my brow — 
 
 The gnawing worm within J — 
 Of all the treasures I have lost, 
 Like leaves autumnal, tempest-tost, — 
 
 Of sunbeams into clouds withdrawn, 
 
 Their momentary sparkle gone, — 
 
16 ANACREONTIC. 
 
 Of murdered hope, and blighted bloom- 
 
 God ! how horrible my doom ! 
 
 Yet fill— fill up ! 
 The crimson cup 
 With frenzy to the brim ! 
 
 1 wildly burn — I madly thirst 
 
 To see the blushing bubbles burst 
 Around its ruby rim ! 
 
LOVE AMONG THE ROSES. 
 
 In deepest grap*, beneath the whispering roof 
 Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran 
 A brooklet scarce espied:— 
 
 Keats' " Ode to Psychi. 
 
 I have found liini ! Here lie lies, 
 
 Weary of the chase; — 
 Lured by vagrant butterflies 
 
 To this shady place : 
 Hat in hand, he ran for hours, 
 In and out among the flowers, 
 Following each golden prize 
 With winged feet and wistful eyes. 
 
 He dreams beneath a drooping vine, 
 Whose graceful trailers intertwine, 
 
 17 
 
18 LOVE AMONG THE ROSES. 
 
 Weaving above his head a woof 
 Of dark green leaves and crimson flowers : 
 In vain through this umbrageous roof 
 May noontide sunbeams try to peep — 
 He?e, time is told in twilight hours, 
 While " infant beauty " lies — asleep. 
 
 Gray birds and gorgeous butterflies 
 
 Flash through these "purpling glooms,"* 
 
 Where zephyrs woo with plaintive sighs. 
 The hearts of hidden blooms; 
 Yet, heedless of their happy flight, 
 He slumbers still, serenely bright — 
 Transfigured in the shifting light ! 
 
 The tinkling bells of sylvan streams, 
 
 Which wind around this cool retreat, 
 Chime to the music of his dreams; 
 
 * And softly through the forest bars 
 Light lovely shapes, on glossy plumes, 
 
 Float ever in, like winged stars, 
 Amid the purp'ing glooms. 
 
 Amelia B. Wjlbt. 
 
LOVE AMONG THE ROSES. 19 
 
 For, sheltered from the glowing heat, 
 Their laughing — sparkling waters meet 
 To ripple at his rosy feet ! 
 
 Yes ! I've found him ! 
 
 All around him 
 Blushing flowers bud and bloom ; 
 
 Merrily the birds are singing — 
 
 Drowsily the bees are clinging 
 
 (Drunken with perfume) 
 To the lilies and the roses 
 ' Kound the spot where love reposes ! 
 
HOPE OF HEAVEN, 
 
 1 O where shall rest be found, 
 Eest for the weary soul ?" 
 
 James Montoomkbt. 
 
 O there is naught upon this earth of our's 
 The restless longings of the soul to fill ; 
 
 We pant for fairer fields and fresher flowers — > 
 For purer fountains still. 
 
 Our drooping souls, like captive eagles, pine 
 To breathe, once more, their native atmos- 
 phere — 
 
 To soar above the cloud, where sunbeams shine 
 And shadows disappear. 
 
 20 
 
HOPE OF HEAVEN. 21 
 
 For what are all the rosy, dazzling dreams — 
 The glowing hopes and fleeting joys of earth; — 
 
 Its fading smiles — its evanescent gleams 
 Of happiness and mirth? 
 
 Faint, glimmering moonbeams falling on a pall, 
 Or lighting up the pathway to the tomb — 
 
 Wild flowers that blossom on a ruined wall — 
 Oases in the gloom! 
 
 These are the joys of earth; but tell me where 
 Are its wild sorrows — its harassing fears? 
 
 Where are the clouds — the shades of dark 
 despair — 
 That haunt u this vale of tears?" 
 
 Oh where shall rest be found? A stormy tido 
 Is rushing madly onward to the sea; 
 
 Immortal spirits down the current glide 
 Into Eternity. 
 
22 HOPE OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Thrice happy he ! to whom the change of time 
 And tide may leave one solitary rock — 
 
 An Ararat, eternal and sublime, 
 Unshaken by the shock j — 
 
 A hope op heaven, whose summit in the skies, 
 (The only refuge of a ruined race) 
 
 Smiles through the storm — the swelling surge 
 defies, 
 And stands — a resting place ! 
 
TO L, F. P. 
 
 Oh ! "when the dark, tumultuous tide 
 
 Of life is ebbing fast j — 
 When every earthly hope has died, 
 Thy memory shall still abide, 
 
 An Eden in the waste : — 
 "A diamond in the desert" where 
 
 A silver fountain sings, 
 And birds of summer fill the air 
 
 With merry carolings ; — 
 A land of beauty and of bloom 
 Whence zephyrs, freighted with perfume, 
 On wings of woven light convey 
 
 The sweets of Paradise away ! 
 
 When all is drear and desolate ; — 
 When o'er the waters dark, 
 20 
 
24 TO L. F. P. 
 
 (Like thistle-down before the blast, 
 Or dead leaves on a torrent cast,) 
 My soul, a helinless ark, 
 Is rudely — madly driven on 
 Before the dread Euroclydon 
 Of unrelenting fate ; 
 Then brighter than the sparkling bow 
 
 "Whose sky-born splendors sat 
 Like gems upon the regal brow 
 
 Of rugged Ararat, 
 Over the dusky wave afar, 
 Love's scintillant unchanging star, 
 From the bright portal of the past 
 A flood of golden light shall cast, 
 To gild the gloomy twilight air 
 And shew engraven everywhere 
 Thy name, — the first — the last ! 
 
CLOUDS WITH SILVER LININGS. 
 
 AN IMPROMPTU ADDRESS TO JOB'S COMFORTERS. 
 
 "Clouds have silver linings j" — 
 Thus the poet sings, 
 To stifle vain repinings 
 And silence murinurings ; 
 But in the cloud above me 
 No 'silver* do I see; 
 Now Poet, 'an' you love nie," 
 Prithee ! shew it unto me ! 
 
 The words which you have spoken 
 Perchance arc very true, 
 Yet, until the cloud be broken 
 And the sunlight pecpeth through, 
 This thought of "silver linings" 
 25 
 
26 CLOUDS WITH SILVER LININGS. 
 
 But awakens fresh repinings, 
 For you must surely see, Sir — 
 Though truthful you may be, Sir — 
 That the dark side is for me, Sir, 
 "While the bright side is for you ! 
 
 Even were its ' lining ' golden — 
 
 If it may not be beholden — 
 
 Pray, tell me ! Mr. Poet, 
 
 Is it comforting to know it — 
 
 Unless you mean to shew it? 
 
 Your well-meant information 
 
 Gives me no consolation; 
 
 For the sky is none the brighter, 
 
 Nor the cloud a shade the lighter 
 
 Unto me, 
 From knowing that behind it — 
 If I can ever find it — 
 
 There may be 
 A sun that shines forever 
 But which I alas ! may never 
 
 Chance to see ! 
 
CLOUDS WITH SILVER LININGS. 27 
 
 So dark the cloud that hovers 
 
 In my sky to-night, 
 I cannot think it covers 
 
 A single gleam of light: 
 Now, prove your aphorism, — 
 
 If such, indeed, it be — 
 Dispel my scepticism ! 
 
 Or prate no more to me ) — 
 To drive away each shade of doubt, 
 Pray, turn the dark child inside out! 
 
> . 
 
 DUM VIVIMUS, VIVAMUS." 
 
 " Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof."— St. Matt, vi : 34. 
 
 Earth is not an El Dorado, 
 
 Nor is life a summer-day; 
 Every sunbeam hath a shadow 
 
 Chasing it away — 
 Frail Ephemera that perish, — 
 
 Doomed to disappear; 
 Those we love, caress and cherish. 
 
 May not linger here: 
 Pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow. 
 
 Here, alternate, come and go, — 
 Which of these we'll have to-morrow 
 
 We may never know. 
 
 Gather flowers — blushing flowers — 
 
 Which, at present , blow; 
 Leave the buds — they are not our's — 
 
 They for others grow. 
 
 28 
 
DUM VIVIMUS, VIVAMUS. 
 
 If it now be pleasant weather, 
 
 Let us merry be, — 
 Let ns laugh and sing together. 
 
 Why repress our glee 
 By vain speculations, whether, 
 
 In the future, we 
 Shall be gloomier, or gladder, 
 
 Gayer or less gay? 
 Such reflections overshadow 
 
 Beautiful "To-Day!" 
 Fretting — murmuring — repining. 
 
 Darkens every sorrow ; — 
 For regret is ever twining 
 
 Cypress for the morrow. 
 
 But remember ! — Oh ! remember 
 
 In thy darkest day, 
 That the drearier December, 
 
 Brighter is th* 1 May : 
 Earth is not an El Dorado, 
 
 Nor is life a summer-day: 
 Every sunbeam hath a shadow 
 
 Chasing it away. 
 
 29 
 
DESPAIR. 
 
 " No more,— no more,— no more ! 
 
 (Such language holds the solemn sea 
 To the sands upou the shore,) 
 
 Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, 
 Or the stricken eagle soar 1 " 
 
 Edgab Allen Pob. 
 
 I have naught to hope or dread; 
 All save sentience is dead; 
 Peace, with Innocence, has fled. 
 
 To the gloom in which I dwell, 
 This world's darkest dungeon-cell, 
 Were as heaven, unto hell. 
 
 Ye, who yet may hope or fear, 
 Shun this sad sepulchral sphere ! — 
 Rather die than enter here ! 
 30 
 
DESPAIR. 31 
 
 Each unto himself, is fate — 
 Carver of his own estate — 
 Be it blest or desolate ; 
 
 Hence how soothing is the thought — 
 With what sweet nepenthe fraught — 
 / have all this ruin wrought ;— 
 
 /with sorrow chose to sup — 
 Madly drained her bitter cup — 
 Having had — the filling wp ! 
 
 Fairest flowers soonest die; 
 Summer-friends are first to fly ; 
 Memory alone is nigh ! 
 
 Of the many, only she 
 Yet remaineth true to me : 
 Like the echo of the sea, 
 
 In the shell upon the shore, 
 She abideth evermore, 
 Murmuring of heretofore, 
 
32 DESPAIR. 
 
 In my heart a stranded shell, 
 Dashed by passion's stormy swell, 
 On the burning beach of hell ! 
 
 I have naught to hope or dread ; 
 All save sentience is dead; 
 Peace, with Innocence, has fled ! 
 
SONG OF THE BUTTERFLY 
 
 " What more felicity can fall to creature 
 Than to enjoy delight with liberty." 
 
 Fate op thk Buttkbfly. — Spknsbb. 
 
 Who is merrier than I ? 
 
 Quoth the golden butterfly, 
 
 In the shining court of May, 
 
 Whose apparel half so gay ? 
 
 I reflect each sparkling hue 
 
 Of her gaudy retinue. 
 
 I have kissed the Lily's cheek, 
 
 I have played at " hide and seek," 
 
 Blushing Violet, with you ! 
 
 Who is merrier than I? 
 
 Quoth the golden Butterfly. 
 
 33 
 
34 SONG OF THE BUTTERFLY. 
 
 II 
 
 I have flirted, too, with thee, 
 Beautiful Anemone ! 
 And the blue-eyed Pimpernel, 
 Is superlatively blest, 
 Should I for a moment rest, 
 Down in yonder grassy dell j 
 Little doth she dream that I 
 From her soft caresses fly, 
 But to breathe the sweet perfume 
 Of the pale Magnolia bloom j 
 Or to spend a listless hour 
 In the cool, secluded bower 
 Of the pining Passion-flower ! 
 Blither wooer, who than I? 
 Quoth the gaudy Butterfly. 
 
 III. 
 
 When the shades of evening fall 
 Like the foldings of a pall — 
 When the dew is on the flowers 
 
SONG OF THE BUTTERFLY. 35 
 
 And the mute unconscious Hours 
 
 Still pursue their noiseless flight 
 
 Through the dreamy realms of night, 
 
 In the shut or open rose 
 
 Ah ! how sweetly I repose ! 
 
 Zephyrs, freighted with perfume, 
 
 Gently rock my cradle-bloom, 
 
 Myriads of fire-flies 
 
 From the dewy leaves arise, 
 
 And Diana's starry train, 
 
 Sweetly scintillant again, 
 
 Never Bleep while I repose 
 
 On the petals of the rose, 
 
 Sweeter couch hath who than I ? 
 
 Quoth the brilliant Butterfly 
 
 IV. 
 
 Life is but a summer day 
 Gliding languidly away: 
 Winter comes alas! too soon: 
 Would it were forever June ! 
 Yet through brief my flight may be, 
 
36 SONG OF THE BUTTERFLY. 
 
 Fun and frolic still for me ! 
 When the summer leaves and flowers, 
 Now so beautiful and gay, 
 In the cold autumnal showers, 
 Droop and fade and pine away, 
 Who would not prefer to die? — 
 What were life to such as If 
 Quoth the flaunting Butterfly. 
 
THE STAR ABOVE THE MANGER, 
 
 One night, while lowly shepherd swains 
 Their fleecy charge attended, 
 
 A light burst o'er Judea's plains, 
 Unutterably splendid. 
 
 Far in the dusky orient, 
 
 A star, unknown in story, 
 Arose to flood the firmament, 
 
 With more than morning glory. 
 
 Tbe clustering constellations, erst 
 
 So gloriously gleaming, 
 Waned, when its sudden splendor burst 
 
 Upon their paler beaming. 
 37 
 
38 THE STAR ABOVE THE MANGER. 
 
 And Heaven drew nearer Earth that night- 
 Flung wide its pearly portals — 
 
 Sent forth from all its realms of light 
 Its radiant immortals : 
 
 They hovered in the golden air, 
 Their golden censers swinging, 
 
 And woke the drowsy shepherds there 
 With their seraphic singing. 
 
 Yet Earth on this — her gala night 
 No jubilee was keeping; 
 
 She lay, unconscious of the light, 
 In silent beauty sleeping. 
 
 No more shall brightest cherubim 
 And stateliest archangels 
 
 Symphonious sing such choral hymn- 
 Proclaim so sweet evangels : 
 
THE STAR ABOVE THE MANGER. 39 
 
 No more appear that star at eve, 
 
 Though glimpses of its glory 
 Are seen by those who still believe 
 
 The shepherd's simple story : 
 
 In Faith's clear firmament afar — 
 
 To Unbelief a stranger — 
 Forever glows the golden star 
 
 That stood above the manger. 
 
 Age after age may roll away, 
 But on Time's rapid river, 
 The light of its celestial ray 
 
 Shall never cease to quiver. 
 
 Frail barges on the swelling tide 
 Are drifting with the ages. — 
 
 The skies grow dark — around each bark 
 A howling tempest rages ! 
 
40 THE STAR ABOVE THE MANGER. 
 
 Pale with affright, lost helmsmen steer, 
 While creaking timbers shiver — 
 
 The breakers roar — Grim Death is near- 
 Oh ! who may now deliver ! 
 
 Light — light from the Heraldic Star 
 Breaks brightly o'er the billow ; 
 
 The storm, rebuked, is fled afar, 
 The pilgrim seeks his pillow. 
 
 Lost — lost indeed, his heart must be- 
 His way how dark with danger, 
 
 Whose hooded eye may never see 
 The Star above the manger! 
 
ANTIPODES. 
 
 On those dismal Polar plains, 
 Where relentless winter reigns — 
 Where, amid eternal snow, 
 Dwell the squalid Esquimaux ; 
 When Morning awakes 
 And laughingly shakes 
 
 The light from her luminous hair; 
 How bright are the beams, 
 Which scatter the dreams 
 
 Of the shivering slumberers there ! 
 
 When the sleepers arise, 
 
 How sweet the surprise 
 
 Of radiant skies, 
 
 Whence Aurora exiles, 
 41 
 
42 ANTIPODES. 
 
 With her scintillant smiles, 
 The gloom of an Arctic night ! 
 
 Yet oh ! there are times, 
 
 In the sunniest climes, 
 "When shadow is sweeter than light ! 
 
 When weary of day 
 
 And sick of its shine 
 
 We languish and pine 
 
 For its passing away ! 
 
ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. 
 
 Hidden no longer, 
 
 In moss-covered ledges, 
 Starring the wayside 
 
 Under the hedges, 
 Violets, pimpernels, 
 
 Flashing with dew, 
 Daisies and asphodels 
 
 Burst into view. 
 
 Down in the bosky dells 
 
 Everywhere, 
 Faintly their fairy bells 
 
 Chime in the air. 
 Thanks to the sunshine ! 
 43 
 
44 ST. valentine's day. 
 
 Thanks to the showers ! 
 They come again, — come again 
 Beautiful flowers ! 
 
 Twittering sparrows flit 
 Merrily by ; 
 
 Skylarks triumphantly 
 Warble on high : 
 
 Echo, who slumbers 
 So long in the glen, 
 
 Awakens to mimic 
 The song of the wren : 
 
 For thanks to the sunbeams ! 
 Thanks to the showers ! 
 
 They bud again — bloom again- 
 Beautiful flowers! 
 
 The mocking bird too — 
 The sweetest of mimes — 
 
 Is prodigal now 
 
 Of his jubilant rhymes! 
 
 And my heart is so light — 
 
ST. valentine's day. 45 
 
 So cheery to-day, 
 I fancy I hear, 
 
 In his rapturous lay, 
 The music I heard 
 
 In those halcyon hours, 
 When Love to my heart 
 
 (Like Spring to her bowers,) 
 First came to awaken 
 
 Hope's beautiful flowers ! 
 
ODE TO SLEEP, 
 
 Come gentle Sleep ! and hither bring to me, 
 The beetle's drone — the buzzing of the bee, — 
 All slumbrous sounds which Silence loves to 
 
 hear — ■ 
 Which steal like balm into the drowsy ear; 
 Let summer-rain fall softly from the eaves 
 While fragrant zephyrs whisper through the 
 
 leaves: 
 
 II 
 
 To every care some sweet nepenthe bring — 
 Benumb each sense — bid Sorrow cease to sting; — > 
 
 46 
 
ODE TO SLEEP. 47 
 
 From dreamless rest let him awake no more 
 Who only lives, existence to deplore; 
 Haste ! Siren, haste! low lullabies to sing 
 Until I die beneath the shadow of thy wing. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Haste, soothing Sleep ! Bring with thee noiseless 
 
 Night, 
 For I would now no more behold the light : 
 
 Since dawn of day comes only to betray 
 Hope's brightest blossoms withering away — 
 Unveils, before unsympathizing eyes, 
 A heart whose woe no masking may disguise, 
 Cimmerian Gloom — Egyptian Shadow now 
 Chase the accursed sunlight from my brow! 
 
DARKNESS, 
 
 As when with eager straining eyes. 
 We gaze on gloomy twilight skies 
 Until we falsely dream that we, 
 For one brief instant, dimly see 
 The smile of some capricious star 
 Flash through the murky clouds afar; 
 So my bewildered heart, to-night, 
 Gropes blindly, seeking hidden light: 
 Its mournful introverted eye, 
 Now fixed upon a darker sky, 
 Would fain explore the mirksome maze, 
 Dispel the twilight's misty haze, 
 And call to its enraptured gaze 
 From out their petulant eclipse, 
 
 The smiles that shone on Laura's lips. 
 48 
 
BANISHED ROME, 
 
 " Tell him you saw Caius Marius sitting, au exile, amidst the ruins of Car- 
 thage." Histoby of Rome. 
 
 When earthly hopes have flown away — 
 
 When skies are dark and drear, 
 Why should the weary spirit stay 
 
 Repining here ? 
 Why, like yon Roman, linger where 
 The wreck of pomp and power ; — 
 The crumbling column, reared in air, — 
 The fallen fane — the time-worn tower 
 Tell of a brighter hour ? 
 
 The laurel from his haughty brow 
 
 Has fallen long ago ; 
 Why seeks the hapless exile now 
 
 Memorials of wo ? 
 
 49 
 
50 BANISHED ROME. 
 
 Is there a luxury in grief — 
 
 Aud do the wretched find relief, 
 
 In feeling that their lost estate 
 Is shared however desolate ? 
 
 It must be so ! A type thou art 
 
 Oh Carthage in decay ! 
 Of many a noble Roman heart 
 
 Whose hopes are swept away ! 
 Low in the dust of desolation laid, 
 
 Well may the fallen seek thy friendly 
 shade — 
 The exile find, a sister now in thee 
 
 Who art no longer Empress of the Sea ! 
 
TAKING A SNOOZE. 
 
 r 
 
 " 'While I nodded, nearly napping." 
 
 The Raven. 
 
 The drowsy hum of the murmuring bees, 
 
 Hovering over the lavender trees, 
 
 Steals through half-shut lattices ; 
 
 As awake or asleep — I scarce know which — 
 
 I lazily loll near a window-niche, 
 
 Whose gossamer curtains are softly stirred 
 
 By the gauzy wings of a humming-bird. 
 
 From airy heights, the feathery down, 
 Blown from the nettle's nodding crown, 
 Weary with wandering everywhere, 
 Sails slowly to earth through the sultry air; 
 
 51 
 
62 TAKING A SNOOZE. 
 
 While indolent zephyrs, " oppressed with 
 
 perfume," 
 Stolen from many a balmy bloom, 
 Are falling asleep within the room. 
 
 Now floating afar — now hovering near 
 
 Dull to the eye and dumb to the ear, 
 
 Grow the shapes that I see — the sounds that 
 
 I hear ; 
 Every murmur around dies into my dream 
 Save only the song of a sylvan stream, 
 Whose burthen, set to a somnolent tune, 
 Has lulled the whispering leaves of June. 
 
 All things are hazy, and dreamy, and dim, 
 
 The flies in lazier circles swim; 
 
 On slumbrous wings — on muffled feet 
 
 Imaginary sounds retreat; 
 
 And the clouds — Elysian isles that lie 
 
 In the bright blue sea of summer sky — 
 
 Fade out, before my closing eye. 
 
INDIAN SUMMER, 
 
 (A Fragment) 
 
 These are mild delicious days; 
 Gleaming through the golden haze, 
 Which around the landscape plays, 
 Every object now assumes 
 Mellow lights, or dreamy glooms : — 
 Things once distant now are near ; 
 Fainter seem the sounds we hear ; 
 Feebler now is Zephyr's sigh, 
 And yet lower the reply 
 Of the rills that murmur by. 
 
 High upon his airy throne, 
 
 (Girdled with a misty zone) 
 
 Rides the pallid sun at noon, 
 
 Seeming but a brighter moon; 
 
 Lazily his tempered rays 
 
 Measure these enchanting days. 
 53 
 
HOPE. 
 
 Bright hopes blossom day by day — 
 
 Blossom but to leave us ; 
 Those that liuger longest stay 
 
 That they may 
 Still more heartlessly deceive us : 
 Yet in sorrows darkest hour, 
 
 They have power 
 Light and rapture to impart ; 
 As the sunbeam to the shower, 
 
 Hope ! thou art ! 
 When thou shinest rainbows start 
 From the gloomy clouds which lower 
 
 Over my desponding heart ! 
 
HOPE. 55 
 
 II. 
 
 Hope ! those ruby lips of thine, 
 
 (So beguiling !) 
 Mingle April shade and shine 
 
 In their smiling : 
 Why relievest thou my pain, 
 But to fly away again, — 
 Leaving me alone to mope, 
 A repining misanthrope ? 
 Teasing — Tantalizing Fay ! 
 
 Stay!— Oh! Stay! 
 
 III. 
 
 Thou art here anon, — and then, 
 Pipest in some lonely glen : — 
 Now thou hauntest dark morasses, 
 Swathed in dank and dewy grasses, 
 
 Far from the abodes of men : 
 There, thy fairy lamp is lighted — 
 TJt ither, its illusive ray 
 Leads the credulous, benighted, 
 "Way-worn wanderer astray ; 
 
56 HOPE. 
 
 And when he has lost his way, 
 
 (Sink or swim) 
 In the dark thou leavest him ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 Incarnation of the Graces ! 
 Let me hear once more the sweet 
 Falling of thy fairy feet ! — 
 Come, and scatter bright oases 
 In this gloomiest of places ! — 
 Hither from thy far retreat, 
 Haste to cheat me ! Thy deceit 
 I have never chidden yet; 
 'Tis the cruel undeceiving, 
 
 I regret : — 
 There can never — never be 
 In my heart a shade of grieving, 
 
 Save when thou 
 
 Art, as now, 
 On the eve of leaving me ! 
 
HOPE. 57 
 
 V. 
 
 Witching Fairy! — Airy Sprite! 
 Must I bid thee, now, "good night?" 
 And shall my sad heart in vain, 
 Pine for thee to call again ? 
 Promise ! that at dawn of day 
 I shall see thy plumage gay! 
 Then, sweet "Phantom of Delight! 
 Thou mayst wing thy wanton flight, 
 Bidding me "Good Night!" "Good 
 
 Night!" 
 If that night — good night can be 
 When I bid adieu to thee ! 
 
LOVE. 
 
 Love is a lamp unseen 
 Burning to waste, or, if its light is found, 
 Nursed for an idle hour, then idly broken." 
 
 Paerhasius. — N. P. Willis 
 
 Not so ! Not so ! Love's lamp is not unseen ; 
 It never burns to waste, — is never quenched : — 
 His is a vestal lamp, whose virgin flame 
 Illumes the dark with pure and steady glow ; 
 And should its feeblest scintillation fall, 
 It would not lie unheeded where it fell, — 
 It might not perish there or otherwhere, 
 For Love, coeval with the throne of God, 
 Is coexistent with Eternal Life ! 
 
 He moves on earth — a page in Beauty's train ; 
 He follows her — a rapt idolater — 
 
 58 
 
LOVE. 59 
 
 Gloats on her glances — feeds upon her smiles — 
 Lights, with his lamp, her pathway through the 
 
 dark, 
 And keeps a lonely vigil while she sleeps : 
 He only knows her worth, and spies in her 
 A thousand graces others may not see : 
 Beauty would live for him — he die for her ; 
 They cannot dwell apart — they came from Heaven 
 Heirs of immortal life — and when at length 
 She vanishes from earth, He flies with her; — 
 They seek together, undiscovered lands — I 
 They float like Summer-birds, on halcyon plumes, 
 To blend the myrtle with the orange-flower — 
 To build, in brighter climes, their bridal bower. 
 
JOY. 
 
 " The laughing Hours before her feet, 
 Are icattering spring-time roses." 
 
 Paul H. Haynb. 
 
 With light upon her rosy lip 
 
 And laughter in her eye, 
 Whence came the maiden ? — Did she slip, 
 
 With sunbeams, from the sky ? — 
 Steal from the gate of Paradise, 
 
 When no one else was by ? 
 How merrily she seems to skip ! 
 
 What mirthful songs arise, 
 As bounding, like an antelope, 
 
 Who (full of fear, as she of hope) 
 The baffled hunter flies ; 
 
 She leaveth me, alone, to mope — 
 A melancholy misanthrope I 
 60 
 
VIOLETS. 
 
 (From " Viola" an unpublished Poem.') 
 
 A violet by a mossy stone, 
 
 Half hidden from the eye, 
 Fair as a star when only one 
 
 Is shining in the sky.— WohdsworTH. 
 
 Oh ! where on earth may Beauty hide ? — 
 In unobtrusive grace abide 
 
 Unnoticed and unknown ? — - 
 To what far distant spot retire, 
 Where none may love — where few admire, 
 
 To live and die alone ? 
 Although no sparkling coronet 
 Upon her beaming brow is set 
 She sways a regal scepter yet, 
 While Innocence, wherever met — 
 
 In garb however lowly, 
 Will still, unconsciously, proclaim 
 Her lofty mission and her name, — 
 61 
 
62 VIOLETS. 
 
 Sing of the clirue from whence she came 
 
 And tell us she is holy : — 
 Spirits, communing with the skies, 
 Have heavenly glances in their eyes ! 
 
 In unfrequented places, 
 
 Where sunbeams cannot peep- 
 Where Echo's faintest echo 
 
 Is lying fast asleep — 
 These timid woodland graces 
 
 From dewy leaves arise — 
 Unveil their blushing faces — 
 
 Uplift their beaming eyes, 
 Less fearful in seclusion, 
 Of impudent intrusion 
 
 Or surprise ; 
 Yet each of these recluses-. 
 While budding into bloom, 
 L itco/t.scious/y diifuses 
 Sweet perfume ; 
 And, ere they seem aware, 
 
VIOLETS. 63 
 
 The censers which tikey bear 
 Reveal unto the air 
 
 Where they dwell ; 
 And the breezes as they blow 
 
 To and fro, 
 In sweetest odor tell 
 Of dingle and and of dell 
 As yet unshone upon 
 
 By the sun : — 
 They guide on eager feet, 
 'To the shadowy retreat 
 
 Of the Nun, 
 All who love to stand 
 Awhile on Iwhj land; 
 Who feel assured again, 
 So long as then remain, 
 That Innocence, on earth, 
 Yet loiters, loth to fly 
 To purer realms on high — 
 V.-miits not her heavenly birth, 
 Nor publishes her worth 
 To <jjaze of mortal eye. 
 
64 VIOLETS. 
 
 But waits to drop in death 
 
 The masque — the dark disguise, 
 
 When with her parting breath 
 A radiant seraph flies. 
 
 Alas ! how often we 
 
 Externals only see — 
 
 How often we despise, 
 
 Or look with listless eyes 
 
 On those in humble guise, 
 
 Nor know, until they disappear 
 
 That guardian angels lingered near? 
 
WOOED, AVON, FORSAKEN. 
 
 ("From Viola:') 
 
 " And where the Spring-time sun had longest shone, 
 The violet looked up and found itself alone." 
 
 Thos. Buchanan Read. 
 
 Thou art languishing and pining 
 
 Blue-eyed One ! 
 Thou art drooping and declining, 
 And thou faintest for the shining 
 
 Of the sun • 
 For the sunbeam come to sue thee — 
 To worship thee, and woo thee, 
 But to ruin and undo thee 
 
 Lovely Bloom ! 
 He smiled but to deceive thee — 
 To blight thee and bereave thee 
 
 Of perfume, — 
 Then heartlessly to leave thee 
 
 To thy doom ! 
 65 
 
66 WOOED, WON, FORSAKEN. 
 
 Thou hopest in thy sorrow, 
 He will conie again to-morrow, 
 
 Nor depart, 
 (His long delay forgiven) 
 To his bright abode in heaven, 
 Until his smile has driven 
 
 From thy heart, 
 The weight which now oppresses, 
 And the grief which now distresses 
 While he murmurs, as he blesses 
 Thee with ravishing caresses, 
 
 " How beautiful thou art I" 
 But alas ! thy hopes are failing, 
 Thy prayers are unavailing, 
 For wintry winds are wailing 
 
 As they fly ; 
 Thou shalt sleep without awaking — 
 Thy heart no longer aching — 
 When morning beams are breaking 
 
 On the sky ! 
 
REVEILLE. 
 
 Awake ! Arise ! no longer be 
 
 A laggard in the race ! 
 O thou who wouldst thy fellow free, 
 
 Burst first the chains which shackle thee- 
 Insignia of disgrace ! 
 
 Arise ! and muster all thy might ! 
 
 Stand foremost in the van ! 
 He who unfurls the flag of Right, 
 
 Must march a hero in the fight — 
 
 Must be himself a man ! 
 
 • 
 To Arms ! Let sluggards idly stand — 
 
 Let cravens skulk and cower ! 
 'Tis thine to wield a battle-brand, 
 
 Whose touch will nerve thy failing hand 
 With supra-mortal^ power ! 
 67 
 
68 REVEILLE. 
 
 In vain may stalwart foes assail, 
 
 The champion of Right; 
 For panoplied in triple mail 
 
 The true of heart can never fail- 
 Are never put to flight ! 
 
THE SHADOW OF THE ROCK. 
 
 " The Shadow of a Great Rock in a weary land."— Isaiah xxxil : 2. 
 
 Lost in Sahara's trackless wilds, in vain 
 Wouldst thou shake off the darkness of despair, 
 Thou reelest blindly in the "noontide glare 
 Athirst and weary o'er the burning plain : 
 Long hast thou trod beneath thy bleeding feet 
 The glowing sand, a fearful death to die, 
 While sparkling fountains burst upon thine eye 
 And grouping palm trees spread a shelter from 
 
 the heat. 
 Far — far away, beside a gloomy hearth, 
 Where feebly now the fading embers burn, 
 Thy hoary sire, and she who gave thee birth 
 Heart-broken wait to welcome thy return; — 
 God shield thee ! hapless straggler from the 
 
 flock 
 And hide thee now within tlt< thadotooftherock! 
 
 69 
 
STELLA, 
 
 " Ah ! Psyche, from the regions which 
 Are Holy Land!" 
 
 Edgar Allan Pos. 
 
 Star of my soul ! I saw thee rise 
 In trembling beauty o'er a sea : — 
 
 A silent sea — the past that lies 
 Asleep in memory. 
 
 My spirit caught the hallowed beams 
 That fell on the enchanted air ; 
 
 An unseen seraph in my dreams 
 Sealed thy bright image there. 
 
 Around me fell a golden glow 
 
 That flushed the amaranthine flowers, 
 
 Whose censers, swinging to and fro, 
 Perfumed the midnight hours : 
 70 
 
STELLA. 71 
 
 For Hope, who long on wanton wing, 
 
 Coquetted coyly with Desire, 
 Now deigned to robe the meanest thing 
 
 In beautiful attire. 
 
 She nestled in my happy heart : — 
 She whispered in my rosy dream, 
 
 That she would never more depart — 
 Thou shouldst forever beam. 
 
 But now, alas ! the scowling sky 
 Is scarred by livid — lurid levin ; 
 
 I dare not look again on high 
 To miss my star from heaven ! 
 
 Star of my soul ! Unchanging Star ! — ■ 
 Fair wanderer through ' realms of light V 
 
 Although thy beams are shed afar. 
 On other lands to-night. — 
 
 Although the glorious golden dreams 
 That made my past a •' Holy Land/' 
 
 (Where fountains sang whose crystal stream- 
 Purled OVer silver sand. ) 
 
72 STELLA. 
 
 Long since have flown ; my soul returns- 
 A pilgrim, to a shattered shrine, 
 
 Whose vestal light still sadly burns 
 In memory of thine. 
 
 Bright star, arise. I pine for thee ! 
 
 Flash through the angry clouds afar ! 
 Earth has no other light for me — 
 
 My sky no other star ! 
 
 Beam ! softly beam ! Dispel my gloom ! 
 
 Drive fear and shadow far away! 
 Bid hyacinthine hopes to bloom 
 
 And Spring forever stay ! 
 
DULCAMARA. 
 
 Oft when the sunlight's golden gleam 
 
 Has died upon our sorrow ; 
 We sink in sleep, — perchance to dream 
 
 Of happiness to-morrow. 
 
 We fain would banish thoughts of ill, 
 
 Or smile at their intrusion ; 
 And oft deluded, madly still 
 
 Cling to each sweet illusion. 
 
 Dawn brings no day, and Spring no bloom ; 
 
 Earth seems a sad Sahara ; 
 'Till Hope returning, gilds the gloom 
 
 And leads to — wells of Marah ! 
 73 
 
74 DULCAMARA. 
 
 Yet, is it not far better thus, 
 
 To be forever cheated ? — 
 How dark would be the world to us 
 
 Were not the cheat repeated. 
 
 What though our castles, reared in air. 
 
 Begin, so soon, to crumble j 
 Hope is a refuge from despair 
 
 When all their turrets tumble ! 
 
 But wo to those who' wake to weep 
 The visions they have cherished, 
 
 And may not find again in sleep 
 The phantoms which have perished I 
 
 One such I know, within whose heart 
 Hope has no more a dwelling ; — 
 
 From whose dark dreams, no whispers start 
 Of peace and joy foretelling ! 
 
THE LIGHT OF THE LATTICE. 
 
 A FRAGMENT. 
 
 She little dreams that I to-ni<>;ht 
 
 Peer out, through the mist and the rain, 
 To catch one glimmering gleam of light 
 From a far-off window-pane; 
 But the light that shines 
 Through the jessamine vines, 
 Which around her casement creep; 
 Dispels with its beams, 
 The sweetest of dreams 
 And awakens me out of my sleep ! 
 
MY HOPES LIKE WANING WATCH-FIRES 
 GLOW- 
 
 I. 
 
 My hopes like waning watch-flres glow, 
 
 Whose lurid flames, though burning low, 
 Still flicker wildly, to and fro j — 
 
 They brightly gleam, — again retire ; — 
 Revive, and sparkle to expire, 
 
 Yet loth forever to depart 
 They to the ghastly embers start, 
 
 And die to leave a darker shade 
 Where erst their fiitful flashes played 
 
 II. 
 
 My hopes are like the hopes that fail 
 The seaman shipwrecked in the gale — 
 
 Unheeded by the passing sail : 
 As fades the sunlight from the clouds, 
 76 
 
MY HOPES, ETC. 77 
 
 The smiles that hailed her snowy shrouds* 
 Die on our lips : — His drifting spar, 
 
 By raging billows borne afar, 
 
 Perchance may safely reach the shore, 
 
 But mine — is tossed forevermore. 
 
 III.! 
 
 My hopes are songs, a siren sung, 
 
 And flowers her fairy fingers flung 
 Upon a rock, to which they clung ; 
 
 They bloomed awhile in beauty there, 
 Then perished in its Alpine air, 
 
 And now that rock is bare and bleak; 
 Hie lichen shuns its haggard peak, 
 
 And he who haunts the lonely shore 
 Shall hear the siren sing no more ! 
 
 o 
 
 * The author is' fully aware that "shrouds" are not "snowy." 
 But, aside from poetic license, the same figure of speech which sub- 
 stitutes "sail" for "vessel," will sanction, he opines, the use of 
 "shrouds" in lieu of " sails," to which the epithet used would be 
 more appropriate. 
 
TEAR DOWN THAT FLAG! 
 
 Tear down the flag of constellated stars ! 
 
 Blot out its field of blue ! 
 And suffer only " the red planet Mars"* 
 
 To shed its ghastly hue — 
 Let only now his beams of baleful light 
 
 Burst like a beacon on the gloom of night ! 
 
 Trail in the dust the Tyrant's standard sheet ! 
 
 ; Twas erst the flag of Tyrant's fiercest foes ; 
 It now shall be the symbol of defeat — 
 
 Shall droop prophetic of impending woes 
 To those who stand where hero-martyrs stood, 
 
 And Cain-like, clamor for their brother's blood ! 
 
 : The first watch of the night is given 
 To the red planet Mars. — Longfellow. 
 
 78 
 
TEAR DOWN THAT FLAG. 79 
 
 Tear down that flag ! Its skies to sable turn ; 
 
 Fast fades each " stripe of pure celestial white," 
 Its bickering stars to sparkless embers burn, 
 
 Its Eagle skulks the light ! 
 A vulture now, he wings his sluggish flight 
 
 To nestle with the noisome birds of ni'rht ! 
 
 Tear down that flag ! It flouts the breeze, 
 A flagrant— flaunting insult to the sky; 
 
 Disgraced at home — dishonored on the seas, 
 Its coward colors fly, 
 
 From field to field ingloriously driven, 
 
 With stars eclipsed and stripes all rudely riven ! 
 
E^HLIER POEMS. 
 
 FLOWERS FOR MARY. 
 
 Though thou beloved, mayst never know- 
 Mayst never carelessly bestow 
 One idle look upon the giver ; 
 Within whose soul each glance of thine, 
 
 (A ray of light almost divide) 
 Shall in celestial beauty shine, 
 Forever and forever, 
 Like stars reflected on the breast 
 Of a serene, unruffled tarn, 
 That slumbers on the cloudy crest 
 Of a majestic mountain cairn; 
 Yet I have brought from forest glade 
 
 80 
 
FLOWEKS FOR MARY. 81 
 
 From crystal fount and sylvan shade, 
 (Where I secreted oft have seen 
 The flower-laden fairy) 
 A coronet of living green 
 For thee, bewitching Mary ! 
 Spurn not the sacrifice I bring, 
 Love's frail though fragrant offering, — 
 These fading flowers, that droop and die, 
 Pale exiles from their native sky ! 
 Some hues of Eden still they wear, 
 
 Born of auroral light, 
 Ere sin, and sorrow, and despair 
 On raven wings had entered there, 
 
 To wither and to blight. 
 
 Fain would I linger here and twine, 
 While steal away the starlit hours, 
 
 A wreath of snow-white jessamine, 
 And crown thee Queen of Flowers ; 
 
 But I may now no longer rest 
 Beneath thy lattice love ! 
 
 Pale Dian hides her diamond crest 
 
82 FLOWERS FOR MARY. 
 
 And seeks the shady grove ; 
 Her train into a cloud withdrawn 
 Are waiting for the coming dawn ; 
 
 I can no longer stay : 
 In yonder copse methought I heard 
 The note of an awakened bird; 
 
 'Tis near the dawn of day; 
 The morning star grcTrs wan and pale, 
 And Night forsakes the misty vale, 
 
 I too must haste away ! 
 Farewell ! a lingering farewell 
 My Life — My Love, to thee ! 
 This fading wreath alone may tell 
 How strange — how potent is the spell 
 One sunny smile of thine has thrown 
 Around the heart of your unknown 
 Enraptured devotee I 
 
PERDITE! 
 
 Farewell, forever to the dreams 
 
 (Alluring dreams !) whose fitful light, 
 
 Revealed a land where sorrows's night 
 Can never veil the golden beams 
 
 Of life, and hope, and love I 
 
 Farewell to Heaven ! Why linger now 
 In wild regret before the Cross ? 
 
 'Tis powerless : Eternal Loss 
 
 Corrodes my heart ; — seals on my brow, 
 
 The blackness of despair. 
 
 What care I now how long the fire 
 Of life within my bosom burns, 
 
 Since Jesus now no more returns ; 
 But bids each lingering hope expire 
 
 And veils his lovely face? 
 83 
 
84 PERDITE. 
 
 Ah ! what to me is wealth or faniS ? 
 A sunbeam glimmering on a pall ; 
 
 From some high pinnacle to fall ; 
 To leave on earth an envied name, 
 
 And then — to pass away. 
 
 Farewell ! Farewell ! I may not stay 
 Where hope's last " rare and radiant 
 flower 
 
 To ashes fell : — in that sad hour 
 The golden sunlight fled away 
 
 And left Eternal Shade ! 
 
THE SUNBEAM, 
 
 Thing of beauty ! brightly gleaming, 
 Softly through my lattice streaming, 
 To my spirit thou dost seem 
 Like a sweet thought in a dream ; 
 Linger yet a little while, 
 Still my loneliness beguile ! 
 
 Brilliant Sunbeam ! thou dost bring 
 On thy gleaming — golden wing, 
 Life and gladness, light and love, 
 From the firmament above ; 
 Thou dost change the morning mist 
 Into sparkling amethyst ! 
 
 85 
 
86 THE SUNBEAM. 
 
 Messenger from realms of light! 
 Thou art beautiful and bright ; 
 How resplendent then is He, 
 Sunbeam, who created thee ; — 
 Called thee from chaotic night, — 
 Bade thee sparkle in his sight ? 
 
 Shining harbinger of Spring ! 
 All the earth is blossoming, 
 At the earliest " peep of dawn," 
 In the woodland — on the lawn 
 Songs of welcome may be heard — 
 Matins of the mocking-bird. 
 
 Welcome ! bright, celestial ray ! 
 Where thou dwellest it is day ; 
 When thou wanderest afar — 
 When I hail the Evening Star, 
 Then sweet sunbeam ! I shall see 
 But a burning type of thee ! 
 
HORJ; HALCYONS. 
 
 *'0, Death in Life, the days that are no more." 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 Ye hours that minutes seemed, 
 As minutes seem in heaven ! 
 (Should this impiety be deemed 
 
 I pray to be forgiven ; 
 Because — it is my only plea — 
 I spent those halcyon hours, 
 With her who was, and is to me, 
 What to the butterfly and bee, 
 Were Hybla's sweetest flowers.) 
 Oh ! happy — happy time : 
 To what celestial clime ? — 
 Through what enchanted realms of dreams 
 Where all that is and all that seems, 
 
 Is beautiful and bright; 
 
 87 
 
88 HOR£) HALCYONS. 
 
 Doth Fancy — the bewitching sprite — 
 
 Lead Memory astray? 
 Why am I here alas! to-night, 
 And that sweet land of love and light, 
 
 So far away ? 
 
 * * * * * * * 
 
 Sweet sunbeams of a summer flown ! 
 
 Which nothing might eclipse 
 Save the seraphic smiles which shone 
 
 Upon her ruby lips ; 
 Say ! is the past, forever past ? 
 
 Why have ye fled afar ? 
 Your flight hath ushered in at last 
 
 A night without a star : 
 
 Stars are invisible by day — 
 The moon hath no diurnal ray : 
 
 And hence bright children of the sun 
 Your beauty then I heeded not, 
 For lesser lights — it is their lot — 
 Are all unnoticed — all forgot, 
 
HOIUE HALCYONS. 89 
 
 When burns a brighter one ! 
 But now since her averted eyes, 
 Lend summer-light to other skies — 
 
 Leave wintry gloom to these ; 
 Bright sunbeams ! ye at length arise 
 From out those treacherous seas; 
 Whence wild regret, evoketh yet 
 
 Tormenting memories ; 
 For their bright billows evermore, 
 Caress the flower-enamelled shore, 
 
 Where Hope's frail barque at anchor lay; 
 And whence beneath a summer-sky, 
 It sailed a shattered hulk to lie 
 
 On breakers far away: 
 But could I now awhile forget 
 
 The dreams of other days; 
 Or never — never more regret, 
 
 Far — far diviner rays — 
 Cease one bright spirit to adore — 
 Cease her sweet presence to implore, 
 Tlien might your loveliness impart, 
 Light, hope and rapture to my heart. 
 
90 RORM HALCYONS. 
 
 Ye hours that minutes seemed, 
 
 As minutes seem in heaven ! 
 
 Whose light to me is that which beamed 
 
 On man from Eden driven ! 
 
 Haste ! hither haste ! — dispel my gloom — 
 
 Once more the lamp of hope illume — 
 
 Bid blighted flowers again to bloom 
 
 And whisper " All's forgiven" ! 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 
 
 Life is the tossing here awhile 
 
 On a tumultuous sea; 
 With, now and then, a sunlight smile, 
 Or glimpse of an enchanted isle, 
 
 Far in futurity. 
 
 Death is the closing of the day, 
 The lulling of the wind ; — 
 The twilight shades in sad array 
 Bearing the setting sun away, 
 And leaving night behind. 
 
 91 
 
92 LIFE AND DEATH. 
 
 Life is the never ending day — 
 
 The never setting sun ; 
 The passing of each cloud away, — 
 One blooming, bright, eternal May, 
 
 Where Love and Hope are one. 
 
 Aye ! Death like Night bids Morning rise 
 
 Beyond the misty sea, 
 The sun to burn in brighter skies — 
 The soul to dwell in Paradise 
 
 Through all Eternity I 
 
THE COMBATANTS. 
 
 There light and shadow meet 
 
 And mingle, and retreat ) 
 Beautiful Hope, and wan Despair, 
 
 Wage a fearful conflict there 
 For an empty throne : 
 
 There is no Night, there is no Day — 
 Nor have they, alternate sway; 
 
 One must reign alone', 
 But neither of the twain 
 Weareth yet 
 The coronet, 
 
 Or rules the proud domain. 
 ******* 
 
 Faith and Mercy — Truth and Hope 
 
 "With the M powers of Darkness" cope, 
 
 All the pure and all the bright 
 
 From the radiant " realms of light," 
 93 
 
94 THE COMBATANTS. 
 
 Serried, stand upon " the right;" 
 
 On " the left" in grim array- 
 See ! the bannered host of Hell 
 
 Bushing to the dread affray 
 
 Marshalled by the Fiend who fell; — 
 
 By that Gloom, a Glory erst, 
 Who by foul ambition first 
 
 Lost his high estate and fell : — 
 
 Him — the Outlawed — the Accursed ; 
 Who dareth still, — 
 And ever will — 
 
 Vainly — madly to rebel. 
 
 O'er the legions of the Lost, 
 By each wave of battle tossed, 
 
 The red oriflamme of Hell, 
 Rose — alternate, rose and fell : 
 
 Hither — thither wildly driven 
 With the ebb and flow of tide, 
 
 Streamed the holy flag of Heaven — 
 Emblem of the Crucified I 
 
 Brighter than the Morning Star, 
 Beamed that sacred sign afar ; -~ 
 
THE COMBATANTS. 95 
 
 On the scowling front of war ! 
 ******* 
 
 Half light — half cloud the sky that stood 
 
 Above that fearful field of blood ; 
 Forth from the cloud flashed the red levin ; 
 Stars gemmed the other half of heaven ; 
 And where their beams the shadows met, 
 As though some pallid sun had set, 
 
 A livid — lurid — ghastly glare 
 Or lit, or gloomed the upper air ! 
 
 But hark ! a wild despairing yell 
 Of baffled rage — of deadly fear 
 
 Bursts from the frantic fiends of Hell 
 Upon the universal ear ! 
 
 Their crested leader calls in vain 
 His clansmen to the charge again ; 
 
 Death, Destruction, Pain and Wo, 
 Struggling — battling to and fro, 
 Madly urge their ruined ranks 
 To form once more the proud phalanx ; 
 Now blindly rush the reeking studs, 
 Again like tempest-shaken reeds 
 
96 THE COMBATANTS. 
 
 Those stalwart riders reel and rock 
 Tumultuous in the battle shock ! 
 ******* 
 
 The Cross more brightly gleams on high ; 
 They fail ! — they fly ! — the Demons fly ! 
 
 Like lightning-riven 
 
 Storm-clouds driven 
 Athwart a midnight sky ! 
 They fly !— they fly !— they fly! 
 Like the shifting sand of the desert-plain, 
 
 Or the feathery foam of the angry main, 
 
 When uplifted — 
 
 Winnowed — sifted — 
 Swept in frantic fury on, 
 
 By those harvesters of Doom — 
 Those dread reapers for the tomb, — 
 
 Tempestuous Euroclydon ! 
 
 Pestiferous Simoom! 
 
 The Holy Babe of Bethlehem— 
 The Lamb of God — the Crucified — 
 
 The Bridegroom of the ready Bride 
 Hath won, and wears the diadem ! 
 



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