LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. %it — iqtt^'tji^i :f 0,... UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. LELIA LEE, AND OTHER POEMS: BY Rev. Stokely S. Fisher: Author of "Poems," "Fanny Fay, and Other Poems," "Prayer-Band Songs," etc. SECOND EDITION. ENLARGED AND ILLUSTRATED. ^^Uki 1)1 1888. CAMHRTBGE. OHIO. AMOS .<: «ONS. T^ n « copyrighted By Stokely S. Fisher. 1888. INDEX. PAGE. Dedication - Publishers' Preface Preface - Lei.ia Lee 16-145 lelia lee. Canto I— 16 Canto II - - 59 Canto III - --- - 107 miscellaneous poems. Lipht in the West - 149 When Spring-time Comes 151 Song - --- - 152 Acrostic - 1.54 To Wilda 154 The Bee Has Found the Clover 155 April Days 1,59 To Adelee -. - 159 AVhen Old Friends Meet 161 To 162 Her Eyes - 163 Ada --- 164 If We Sought for Joy. 166 Stella -- 167 A Sister of Charity -. 167 A Nation's Sin 169 () Tiet Me Wander^ 173 Beneath the Willow 174 Fannv 176 1 Pledpe Not Love Till Death 177 A Kiss 178 Afterglow 179 A Star Burned Out 180 IXDEX. PAGK, Aurora In a Purple Mist 181 Reitj:ret.— A Medley.-. 183 Though That Soft Touch .... _ 188 Longins - 189 AVe Had But an Hour 190 Essie's Urave 192 With liOve We'll Speed 19ti Behind the Clouds 197 Album Verses 198 Through All the Summer 201 O Hasten Rosebud 202 In Days That Are Dead 202 Edith --- 205 The Bachelor... 206 Song ■. 208 Son g . 209 To Wilda 211 Who Asked? ..... 212 Laura 213 Oxford's Hills 214 Dandelions 216 After the Party.. .... 217 ToA — -., 218 Rose-Tree By the River . 220 To Ruth 221 Swinging 223 Upon tlie (ireen 224 Evangeline — 228 The Sun's Last Beams 232 1 Never See a Cabin Home 234 Wlien the Stars 239 A Flight ol Birds -. 240 Aidyl 241 God's Poems... 244 It Is Not Spring 245 Alone ^.. 247 O Tell Me, Darling 248 Ode 249 To 251 PASTORATE POKMS. Cui Bono? 255 Lines. 257 INDEX. PAGE. Confession 258 Prohibition Cranks -. .- 259 Rich and Poor 260 An Evening Song.. 261 A iSabbath Morning 2(i2 Lines 2U8 O I Wovild be Lost in Jesus 265 The Revival at Tophet-Corner 267 Hard Times 276 Building ._. 279 Help Me Not to Judge 280 In The Light of the Cross. -. 281 Forward 282 The Chariots of God 284 Death and Life 286 Home From the Grave 288 Lines 289 A Dying Christian 1 290 Hymn L. M. 292 The Labor Will be Ended 292 HymnC. M 294 My Ambition 297 Errata. 298 ILLUSTRATIONS. The Author -Stokelv S. Fisher 4 Trysting Bower ]<) By Moonlight 28 Longiuir 41 Lelia Lee 57 The AValhonding... 75 Peter Phipps and Lelia H9 The Cottage II5 Alone 119 Boating . .. 157 The Milk Maid 199 Edith 205 The Lovers - 229 Young Hearts 2.37 The Flower Girl 242 PUBLISHERS PREFACE We have enjoyed even the publishers' labor in preparing this work for the book binder. Not onlv the elaborate poem, "Lclia Lee," is full of interest and pathos, but many of the minor poems are of more than ordinary interest. The first edition met a rapid sale, and was soon exhausted. This edition will, we doubt not, meet with equal favor. It is much enlarged and improved. The addition of about fifty pages of poems not heretofore published, will add to the popularity of the work, and of its gifted author. Rev. S. S. Fisher is yet quite a young man, and his poems are written, not as the literary hireling composes, but between hours of study and hard work, as they come to him in his busy life. With hope for the success of the work and its author, we close our labors. Cambridge, Ohio. J. M. Amos & Sons. PREFACE. The usual apologies of young authors I cannot conscientiously make, as no persuasion on the part of. friends could cause me to print verses, in my own opinion altogether unworthy the attention of my readers; neither can I honestly express fears that I shall not be ap])reciatcd, at least as much as I merit, by a public by which all my poetic ven- tures have been so kindly received, and whose praise of a former edition of Lelia Lee encouraged me to print this little book. I am aware that my work is not without many defects, due no less to unavoidable haste, than to lack of experience. I have had too little time for re- vision, in both manuscript and proof sheets, and am apprehensive that my pages may be marred by many errors that, by care, might have been avoided. When my readers are informed that my parish con- sists of four congregations, their blame may, at least, be mitigated. 14 PREFACE. To be accused of degcribing real persons, if a com- pliment, is a very troublesome one. At the risk of destroying some very carefully constructed romance, ingeniously wrought out by some of my admirers with almost sublime officiousness, I think it just to declare that no real persons are described in any of my poems. I have selected and described typical characters much as a botanist selects and describes typical flowers. Some of my verses will undoubt- edly be found to tit some people, or rather, some people will be found who fit my verses, not because I described them, but because they belong to the class of which I wrote. With these few words of explanation, I submit my verses to the candor of the public, hoping that they may be found worthy a place in the hearts of those who give them a home upon their shelf. Stokely S. Fisher. TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED IN LOV NG REMEMBRANCE OF HOME. LELIA LEE. I. Canto I. I have come where ardent fancy gives each fluent wave a tocgue; Here I linger like a bird about its nest despoiled of young; Here the past and present meet me, casting in the wimpling waves Horoscopes of mystery: I see a future _ full' ol graves. O Walhonding, wild and wayward, rufiling on thy rugged shore. Type of thoughts that overwhelm me, murmur- ing voice of days of yore! By thy pebbled beach I've wandered with a maid- en at my side When my heart was filled with music, glad as sings thy gleeful tide. 18 LELIA LEE. Many months have passed like hearses since that happy, halcyon time, But to me the past is present, and I hear, in cheerful chime Tones afloat from merry minutes that tripped by so long ago, Glorious in their gorgeous raiment, and with glan- cing smiles aglow. Place and time and spirit voices bind my spirit Vv'ith a s{)ell, And the palpitating silence pictures faces I know well; Strange! I almost pause to listen for her footstep on the shore, Almost hear the bird-like trilling of her laughter, as of yore. Through the gates above the world in tearful si- lence fades the day. And the shadows, stealing nearer, seem like vam- pires round their prey: LELIA LEE. 1!» TliYSTl^'(Ji BOWKK. 20 LELIA LEE. Lo, a sheeted presence comes to share my loneliness with me, And before me lies a vision of the bliss I hoped might be. Lonely, longing for the happy days that nevermore may dawn, For rapt hours, that all were angels whispering love, forever gone, I am brought to see the impress of the petty gods and vain, AVhich the world has made and worships, burn- ed into my heart and brain. Change has laid its hand upon me, and on all I held most dear. But a love-born fascination ever draws my foot- steps here; Oh, the little hands that never now will softly clasp my own! Oh, the earnest eyes forever from my eager glances flown.' LELIA LEE. 21 Oh, those lips whose sweet persuasion now invites another's kiss! Kiver, River, thy deep waters ne'er entombed a woe like this! — Wedded to the wild-eyed woman who upon thy billowy breast Cast her weary form, imploring only liberty and rest,* Wearing still her name, and telling her sad story to the trees, Birds and flowers, that, sympathizing, list thy mournful melodies, — He whose sinews curl and crack when dying in the red-man's flame. Suffers pangs, compared w^ith passions, which are torture but in name. »It Is related that a white woman, telng^ closply pursued by savages. In order to escape them leaped Iroin a rock overlianu:lng- the Walhond- lag, and perished In its waters. Hence this beautiful stream Is called "The White Woman liiver." The huge rock from which the white wo- naan leaped is still pointed out to the traveler \yy those residing near the river, and, seat&l upon this stone, under theshadow ot agreat tree, the author composed a part of this canto. The green whisperins leaves, the murmuring waves, the flowers and birds, together with the wild, sh idowed cliffs, render tliis locality a favorite resort for the youth al the adjaceat tarms. 22 LELIA LEE. II. Here the weeping willow's branches roof thy spark- ling waters o'er, And a friendly rock, round-shouldered, lends his hand to form a floor; Softly kiss his lips moss-bearded, gently lift these listless boughs. They are friends, and heard her whisper low re- plies to my first vows. By these legend- haunted waters once we watched the spring-time come, Heard the timid blue bird warble, watched the robin build her home. Here, too, in the mild May weather, listlessly we strolled to cull Frail, bright flowers that filled the forest, like her, spirit-beautiful. Love upon her cheek was blushing ere the young oak leaves were red. And the soul of fragrant Flora, mixed with ours, turned heart and head. Country born, I sought with rapture the rough freedom of the farm; LELIA LEE. 23 BY MOONLIGHT. See page 22. 24 LELIA LEE. Nature held, in every nook, for us, a secret and a charm. Merry as child-love, we wandered on the shore and in the grove. Listened to the wood-birds warble, watched the downy clouds above; AVondered if the birds in loving felt the bliss our own hearts knew? If the clouds held sleeping seraphs? — surely glory glimmered through. Sometimes I would wreathe a crown of ferns and blowers for my queen; Sometimes we would dance together on the cool and pleasant green. When we thirst'sd, we would drink from leafy cups, at bubbling springs; Sometimes, too, she sang for me as blithely as the free thrush sings: LELIA LEE, 25 SOXG. It is Spring, it is Spring, and the flowers Have waked by the rocks and streams, — The trailing arbutus and blood-root, Decentras, in rich racemes; The tender leaves of the oak tree Are red on the slopes of the hills; The cowslip gleams ia the meadow. And violets nod by the rills: The flowers have come to the woodland, The leaves have come to the tree, And oh! to add beauty to beauty. My lover has come to me. The plowman sings from the hillside, Light-hearted, and free from care; The gay birds, mating and building. Are carrolling everywhere; The lambkins skip ia the meadow. There is joy in the hum of the bees. And even the whispering breezes Are glad as they play in the trees; 26 LELIA LEE. But oh! my heart is more blithesonie Than anything beside, For he is with me, my lover. Who socvn will manke m* his bride. Best of all we liked the river and the grotto 'neatFa the tree; Trysting Bower we called it then, — ^it was a tryst with fate to me I Far down in the limpid water we could see the minnows play; Overhead the rustling leaves were courted by the wind all day^ She was mistress of the forest, and the robins sh© had fed Till they knew her as a friend, and perched up on her wrist and head; All wild creatures were her playmates e'en from childhood, for her books Oft she brought, for quiet study, to lone dells, by purling brooks. LELIA LEE. 27 Gracehil as a fern or fuchsia, still, in years, almost a child, She was bashful and caressing, playful, yet was shy and mild; Artless Lelia! my heart rested in its more than love for her; Artless, yet her smiles, like rainbows, arched the golden days that were. Often, often here reclining, tossing flowers on thy tide Talked we of the happy new-year when she was to be my bride; Fancy touched us with her wand, and day by day we built our dream Of the time when all the hours should pass like roses on a stream, Lelia was an only child of Ruth, home-cursed by bitter wrong, And our love had grown together, self-revealing, wondrous strong: 2S LELIA LEE. Neither knew when true affection for the other had not been, Deeper than all springs of passion^ best of all the powers within.. Ah! 'twas heaven to be together^ and we trusted when apart; Even when absent sh€ was present^ ever pre- sent in my heart. When the air of sweets was fullest and each bower of brighest bloom. Thoughts of her to me were svfeeter than the- bloss&ms or perfuaie. Angels seemed to weave together S'll our thoughts^ our hearts, our hands; Little thought we there were deraoas near, who* sought to break the bands. Could we dream that we would ever think of lov- ing with regret 1 Teach the lip& ta say Forgotten, though thes licaj-t can ne'er forget I LELIA LEE. 29 Not to us spake demon-voices, but to those weak hearts Avhere she Should have been e«shrined, and cherished long ere she was dear to me. Did they love her? Is it loving to -cross love and crush the heart! — 'Twas not love, but lust of gold that thronged Chaldtea's* human mart,' Lelia was a AAviter lily, and her lovely character Triumphed o'er the slime and ooze that at t^re root environed her; Touched by her, the barren dust of life burst into living ilower. And each feeble hope of good became a purpose big with power. So, as grow neglected plants, her soul exjianding, ever grew, Though her father was a drunkard, and her mother was a shrew ; *In Babylon, women of marriageable age might be sold tot.i»p highest Saldcier by their fathers er brothers, wlio were not siow to avail tiiem- -selves of this oppertuuity to grow rici^. 80 LELTA LEE. As a sjiintby fiends is tempted, so was Lelia by thorn both ; Frigbtened by a father's frenz\', t«>rthrcd by a mother''s oath. Narrow browed and narrow minded, lower feelinor- rules alone ; Baser nature, blinded bigot^ knows no rights except bis own ; 'Tis a waste of words to reason, law was made that he might rule; Loose the passions! murder judgment! Answer, if you can, the FooL Foolish father I foolish motherlf Love is dew, but anger, blight ; Who would lower to that level where the right of Might is rightl Reared 'mid bi-awls and bestial h()me-scon('.'> Lelia rose through her distress ; Peri housed with beasts! whose training could not make one virtue less. T.ELIA LEli:. 31 Thus her father, ''Dauglitcr, mark me, love is but an idle whim; Why do vou not feel for me, since you can feel so much for him ? I have chosen wisely for you, where your love will be of use- Jove, if 'tis your whim to love, but see you love the one I choose. -'Mammon is a mighty god, and few the deeds he cannot do ; Bjautv has a market value; wisely we have plan- ned for you : llude may be his voice and manner, small his head and heart may be, Gold makes him a denii-god, and hides naore sins than charity." Vultures choose not for the turtles; soul must seek its kindred soul ; Nor should ever any -other, any spirit choice cou- trol. 32 r.ELIA LEE. 'Twas my right with her to wander o'er the mead and by the wave, Aud 'twas not their right to sell her like a harlot or a slave. But alas ! ere came the Kew-year, c^ime their min- ion from the West; He who may have been her lover, but eoiild nev- er love her best ; He who owned that touch-stone only which the wealthy dunce may wear, — Only gold, whose glitter blinded mother-love and father-care. Ended then the perfect rapture of our peaceful love and trust; In our Eden was a serpent, and our lilies lay in dust) All the dreamy spell was broken; pui-pling in our quicken'd veins Fire burned, mingling with our blood, and pas- sion broke bis rusted chains. LELIA LEE. 33 Love was left, but much — how much! — had gone that ne'er could come again : Love was left, but, mingling with it, was a know- ledge full of pain. All the wide world lay before us, and the bars were broken down; Nothing now in life could be so sweet again, or all our own. Meeting here beneath the willow, here she told their will to me : "We must part they say," but, weeping, Lelia said; "It must not be!" Through the open gates of heaven angels flitted out and in, "And it will not be," I whispered, "God is good; and love will wiu." 34 LELIA LEE. SOXG. Soft, soft the litrht that triumphs into day, Strong, dear, is love, and it will win its way ; See, darling see! tlic doves fly two ''and two Their choice is free, why should 1 not choose you ? Soft, soft the light that triumphs into day, Strong, dear, is love, and it will win its way. Lift, lift your eyes, all heavy fringed with tears; Look, dear, love wins e'en ou the meads and meres ; Sing, sing my heart! the rock w. ars in the stream ; Kight will prevail, however it may seem! Lift, lift your eyes, all heavy fringed with tears ; Look, dear, love wins e'en on the meads and meres. LELIA LEE. 86 Kneeling here upon this sliaded, mossy rock, we clasped our hands, And, with eyes and hearts uplifted, prayed that Love would bless His bands. All the threads were interwoven till we two had but one heart ; Cursed be the golden wedges forged to rend knit souls apart ! Kneeling there with brow seraphic, trembling lips and heaving breast ; Wide blue eyes to heaven uplifted, pink-white hands together pressed ; Long bright strands of hair brown-golden, floating, flowing in the wind ; Fragile form so round and graceful, 'neath light draperies half defined ; Vows that were low-spoken, modest, though impas- sioned as my own, Tingeing dimpling cheeks with blushes rosy as the first faint dawn, — 36 LELIA I.P:E. Oh, she seemed one of the anj2;els I liad seen once, in a dream, Rapt in worship 'round the throne hard by the sparkling, crystal stream. Then our lips met, clinging, trembling ; soul was whispering to soul : Softly singing, sprightly spirits rhythmic through my being stole. When the heart shakes to the key-note in the rap- ture of its chords. Love expresses in his kisses more than ever warmed his words. But around us or within us nothing 's altogether fair; Nothing: is so briy-ht with beautv but some little blot is there. Perfect for the perfect only ! nature is a work well done ; What we see was made for mortals : spots are seen upon the sun. LELIA LEE. 37 On the lip of every rapture is a prophecy of woe ; In glad eyes a tear is lurking Avhich a gnat can make to flow ; Honest love with wily intrigue knows no cunning means to cope, So I feared that they would change hcr,^ — not in love, — hut trust and h(»j)e. Coarser natures scorn the feelings that are finer than their own ; Mock the heart tliat, hcavcn-tenipered, hriaks Wiien its l)est liojx' is gone. Little loss is sucli a plaything, — love they lightly sj)iiiii away, Preach (orgt-tfidness and duty till the maxims daik{n day. Passion's strength will often vanish when its glow lias Icl't the chcels ; Love had often found her timid, might not slan- der tiud her weak '! 38 LELIA LEE. Venomed tongues would touch my honor, lying lips denounce ray name; Could a heart, so wearied daily, only bear, and be the same? Priests may join the hands, (and often such a union proves a blight,) While true love, when it is mutual, only can the hearts unite. Well I knew our hearts were wedded, — would her hand be mine? or his ? Joy had fled, for doubt had entered; dread usurp- ed the throne of bliss. O.t I met her, half in sorrow; hope still struggled with vain fears : Still her lips smiled, but her eye-lids were, I felt, surcnarged with tears. A dark shadow, Ukc a storm-cloud, followed us, and fell between, And we were not to each other all in other davs we'd been. LELIA LEE. 39 Deathly cold upon the garden of my heart that sha- dow fell! By her troth, my soul, susj)ended, hung o'er all earth fears of hell ! How long would a hope as feeble as are woman's vows, remain ? Oh ! to think those dimpled, waxen, trusted hands might break the chain ! Some hearts bloom but once, and then in sunshine like frail Cistus flowers ; Like imperishable coral, storm- washed, grew that love of ours : Meek obedience, grown a habit, touching, might annul her will. But I knew her love, unchanged, would set to its sole object still. Through alternate sun and shadow spin the long and weary days ; Circling on, the great world plunges into aut- umn'.- mellow haze. 40 LELIA LEE. Stroao- Briareus from the the hillside shakes his mighty hundred arms, Greets rude Boreas with defiance, and defends the naked farms. Under winter's somber tent the snowy world lies shivering ; From the frozen mere and river merrily the swift skates ring ; Tender love smiles softly out from muffled, merry lips and eyes, And the sleigh, b.'noath the moon, is liappy, too, and almost flies. Christmas spreads kind hands in blessing, love awakes in home and mart; Christmas smiles, and lionest laughter rij)ples from the whole WfU'ld's heart : And the New Year, in the shij) of Progri-S'^, stand- ing at tiie iielm, Points aliead to truer promise, larj:er ho^)..- for man and realm. LELIA LEE. 41 42 LELIA LEE. With the trinity of time consulting, drowning in warm tears Our resentment, glad we welcome each good pros- pect that appears. Winter, weeping, strikes his tent, and April's gold- en key unlocks Nature's treasury of herbs and grasses for the grazing flocks. We were strolling where bright flowers smiled from every bush and nook ; She was silent, and I whispered, as we paused be- side a brook : — "Dear, my thoughts, when you are near me, like a runlet in the sun, Laugh in eddies, meet in music, dimpling bear rich flowers on; ''Like a deep pool, heavy shadowed, in a solemn, silent wood. Are my thoughts when we are parted, is my soul in solitude." LELIA LEE. 43 Then she, smiling in reproof, said, "Fret not at afflictions, while Patience is the lucious fruit produced on thorny stems of trial." Thus the precepts of religion, blossoming on lips adored, Sweetened all things; she could soothe my troubled spirit with a word. But we seldom met together, and the fruit my trial bore Was not patience, for my rival seemed to triumph more and more, Peter Phipps was little natured, talking ever of himself, Ekeing out one low idea, boasting of his stock and pelf; Leering like an idiot and full of petty tyrannies, Little lordling, happy in a little honor paid to fees. 44 LELIA LEE. Weakling was he, yet a lover ol himself, and self approved ; Rival only in the name, if not by Lelia's parents moved : But my soul was greatly shaken, whicli my darling saw with ruth ; "Clarence," said she, ^'Clarence Clare, doubt God before you doubt my truth." O, the honest heart reveals itself, however schooled to lie; Faster than the lips can speak, it writes the truth in lip and eye : She had spoken half the truth ; her heart would ever be the same. But her will was growing weak, like iron soften- ed in the flame. Love is jealous in its essence, sweetly-sad insanity ; Doubting makes its darling dearer, maddens it to misery; LELIA LEE. 45 Eros dips his darts in poison, and they fly to mur- der rest : All the heart is fused with fever till each feeling burns the breast. Hours of silence, nightly vigils, visions like real- ities; Glancing forms with half-seen faces lit by veiled, but beaming, eyes; Folded arms and listless pacing, spectral feet that hurried by; Looks expectant, sudden blushes, then the dis- appointed sigh, Proved my passion. Trustin©;, doubting, hoping, fearing, still I wooed, Feeling she was daily growing distant, shrinking and subdued. Once I felt that love would triumph, twice I felt that we must part, — Oh ! it was the golden wedges slowly pressing heart from heart. 46 LELIA LEE. In a breast o'erwrought with passion long suspense will choke hope dumb; Better feel a coming sorrow than to feel that it must come ! Was it best I should desert her when I knew she loved me yet ? Leave the pathway clear before her to the snare by schemers set? While she loved me she must suffer persecution for my sake, Or leave all and take me only; and 'tis hard home ties to break. Should I leave her, and forever, would she suffer more ? or less ? Could I save her from herself, or was the only end distress ? 1 hough I questioned all its prophets still the fu- ture would not speak, And a hope without some anchor, like a ship on rocks, is weak : LELIA LEE. 47 I<^norance was woe and dreading, knoM'kdge could be only woe : Love and doubt had reached that crisis when the heart must break or know. O sweet river, flowers kissed thee, violets shyly bending doAvn, And thy happy heart was heaving wildly, warmly as my own : Thou wert whispering and laughing with thy darl- ings near the shore, While thy silvery hands caressed them gently, coy- ly o'er and o'er. And my love and I were sitting in the dear accus- tomed place, Something like the old-time radiance beaming from her beauteous face : If our spirits still were wedded, better that our hands should be ; S3ie had suffered, but no longer should she suffer wrong for me ; — ■^8 LELIA LP:E. "Come" I said, "Let us uot tarry where each hour adds greater woe ; Come, with love our guardian angel, can it matter where we go '! Far away beyond the oeean we will build a little home On whose heath the blighting shadow of our sor- rows cannot come. "In exchange for home and kindred, little can I offer you ; But I leave my all behind me, I have home and kindred, too ! I cannot now offer jewels, wealth of gold or wealth of land. But, devoted to your service are my honor, heart and hand. "Yes; and W'hen life's griefs and crosses heavily upon you fall. Coming to our happy cottage as they come ta darken all — LELIA LEE. 49 Then will I bo alwiiy.v near you, as at noiuing, s^o at night ; As I shield you now from sunbeams I will shield you then frou) blight. "Touched by love, plain bread and water sweeter are than any f ast AVhere presides not true affeetion ; loving hearts are hap])iest. Wealth fills not the emj)ty bosom, and the hol'ow ring of gold Is bold moekery of ambition, when the keys of choice are sold. " Come, for should we longer tarry, we must part or fly at last ; To defer is fatal blindness when the final die i.^ cast : Love is holy ; God has blessed it ! Without you my heart would die ; — With its living threads you're woven ; come, my darling, let us fly !" 4 50 LELIA LEE. Then she said, " I will go with you, all I ask is what you'd give, — Love, — the one I love near always, home, where I in peace may live. All you know may grow cold-hearted, but my hear^ is warm and true ; Gladly will I leave behind me home, yes all, to go with you. "Till I met you life was barren of the fruit it since has borne, — Fruit that sorrow only ripens cannot blighted be by scorn. Let those who now wrong, desert me; I care not so you love on; Absent stars are only noted when the brighter sun is gone." Weeping, said she, " What affection prompts in wo- man, do she must, Lo, I give myself to you with all a woman's holy trust !" LELIA LEE. 51 Then, half-smiling, " As I look upon this spot, I wonder whether In the cot of which you speak we can have haj)pier hours together. * Good-bye, Clarence ; wait till Autumn folds the little flowers away, Hiding them in mystic cradles wliere they sleep and wait for May. Ask not why I wish to tarry, I can only say, 'tis best ; So, until the forests brighten, let our hearts in true-love rest." Then she kissed her hand and waved it, waved it gracefully to me, — Smiling, tripping lightly from me to her home across the lea. Often coyly looking backward, sometimes gather- ing a flower. Thus she left me, loft me musing long and lonely in ihc bower. 52 LELIA LEE. As I mused my spirit saddened slowly from its rapturous height; Had I not another rival? one whose kiss would burn and blight? — For her cheek was hot and hectic, and her glances glowed too much ; Ah, she was so Irail and fragile, and the Angel best loves such ! Oft a tender heart, in humble silence drooping, withereth ; Ever, to the meek and timid, constant sorrow heralds death ; Ever wooing, slowly winning, always with her he would be, — Would he, when the forests brightened, fold my flower away from me ? — Better in the shadowy Harem that she with the an- gel rest Than that one a woman loves not clasp her nightly to his breast! LELIA LEE. 63 Better die than live and love not ! better death than death in life ! Death is kind, a welcome suitor, when he wooes a loveless wife. But, the silvery darts of Dian quiver in thy bil- lowy breast, O fond River! she smiles coldly while you seek, but find not rcst ? Farewell now, and may new flowers wake to list thy happier song; *Tis not best my thoughts should waken days that have been dead so long. To Q. E. 'WjLi'BlIl^, 0]. \., PROFESSOR OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGES AT ADRIAN COLLEGE, This Second Canto of ''Leiia Lee" is Dedicated, In admiration of his talent, and gratitude for his instruction, By the Author. Lelia Lee. LELIA LEE. 59 LELIA LEE. I. Canto II. Love is not one of the passions, but the angel of them all ; None could be if it were not, each only wakens at its call. Strange its power to still the heart to dreams ec- static; stranger still, While an attribute of soul, it is not subject to the will. 60 LELIA LEE. Friend or foe, and never neutral, it can make the heart a heaven, Or can rend it as the oak by crashing thunderbolt is riven. Locked in fond embraces, love gives every hour Apollo's wings. And each moment, growing gayer, some new song of rapture sings ; When alone, love damps the plumage of the hours with many tears. And they pass so wearily that weeks are months^ and months are years. Sad I watch the days wear through the wall of time that hides from view Loved eyes forever beaming with a beauty ever new. Lelia, dear, my heart is dreaming, dreaming of you all the day : Do you ever think of me, in our dear bower far away ? LELTA lp:f:. 61 I must love and wait! and waiting makes tha mournful minutes crawl Wounded serpents, slowly, slowly tlirough the mind's deserted liall. I must love and wait ! Love cannot wait and yet be love, if true ; It is agony, 'tis yearning! thirsty fire drinks all its dew. Lelia, Lelia, I am waiting, but my soul is sadly tried ; I would give a year of heaven for a moment at your side; I would give the light of heaven, all the softness ol its skies. All the stars that gem it over, just to see your star- ry eyes! Vain, vain ; it could not be if I would give my very soul : I am left alone with love whose cords are silken, — but control. 62 LELIA LEE. Yet the eyes I hate are on her, and the jingling of his gold In the pocket of the pampered fool will make him over-bold. He will haunt her like her shadow, — it will fall upon the ground, But the shadow of his wealth will darkly on her heart be found. Torrid beams are boating, beating straight into my fevered brain; Reason trembles to the tread of wakened passion's maddened train. None so low but in them somewhere is a magnet that can draw Others even to their level, — may I lose her by this law? He will now be always with her; he may rise and she descend Till they meet in mutual love, and former adverse natures blend. LELIA LEE. 63 There is sorrow in the thought beyond the power of words to tell : It is anguish to be jealous, jealous when I love so well. Jealousy, thou art a poison, gangrene art thou of the heart, Changing by foul chemistry to bitterness each sweetest part. Thou hast made the summer hateful ; of each pleas- ant thought beguiled, Fain am I to soothe my heart, which frets as would a peevish child. While my fears seem premonitions of an evil soon to be. Woe has wrought a half narcosis, dread is mixed with apathy. Like a dream of hands that beckon o'er a chasm wide, dark, and deep Are the ghostly thoughts that haunt me, till I pray for strength to weep. 64 LELIA LEE, SONG. Lone, lone am I, and all amusements cloy. Dead, too, am I, insensible to joy ; What is the dew to flowers brown and sere? Lone, lone am I, though many friends be near, What cure can be for spirits sick of flowers? Sick, sick, so sick, of heavy days and hours? Long longing deep for living days of change, Fond fancy withers if it may not range. Brave warriors smile to die upon the field, Pioud nations watch and bless the arms they wield ; Lone, sad I fight my battle in the dark. Shamed should I fall, but vict'ry none would mark. LELIA LEE. 65 II. Will the autumn never come ! the roses are not fair to me ; How much dearer to my heart the cones of rosy leaves would be ! Let the toiling, heated Summer go as quickly as she may; She can give to me no flowers like the one she keeps away. Bluer are September's skies than those which brightly bend in June; Give to me the fresh, cool morn, and take this sweating, languid noon. ye Avarblers, seek the sonth-land, with your milder melodies ; 1 would hear the blackbirds chat of olden time in tinted trees. 66 ^ LELIA LEE. Oh to see the crows in cluster ou the branches bare and high, Catch the liquid music flowing from the lark, far in the sky] Oh that I might see the Sumac shake his darts ablaze with blood. See the social groups of asters, starry spires of golden-rod! Oh for grass all crisp and sparkling, for keen breezes that inspire, For the weirdly whispering forest with its myriad tongues of fire ! Oh to see the haze o'erhang the misty hilltops far away, See the snowy laces heaving on the bosom of the Day. Let me see the soft light dying in the half-transpar- ent west, While all nature round me sinks to sweet, but mel- ancholy rest. LELIA LEE. 67 Let the evening fires be lighted, and the pensive tales be told Of our father's toils and triumphs in the trying days of old. He will tell the stirring stories of that rude but won- drous time, When, where now the city stands, the haughty for- est stood sublime. Then the child, wide wonder-eyed, shall breathe the solemn woodland air, Track the red deer o'er the snow, and follow hard the growling bear. She will follow with the old man to his cabin in the dell, Sit before the crackling log-fire, hear the gaunt wolves yelp and yell; Live through grandpa's days of danger, days Avhen men must do or die. Till the shrieking wind of winter shrills into the Indian's cry. 68 LELIA LEE. Frightened, she will nestle nearer, clasp him with her round, young arms; Then will wrinkled hands cares.s her, till she wakes from her alarms. And the hoary head will tell of long forgotten brooks and bowers, Dreamy tales of love and longiog that call back the buried hours. Then the child will wipe away a tear that o'er his eyelid creeps, Pity hiui and pat his cheek, and wonder why the old man weeps. Fairer hope will smile within him at the touch of that small hand, And the graves behind him seem arched gateways to the Better I^nd. Through his face a smile will steal as through thin clouds the sunlight creeps ; He will softly sing old ballads till the little darling sleeps. LELIA LEE. 69 Lelia, then, and I shall sit by our own fireside, all alone, In that happy solitude where all we wish is all our own. Not a sorrow in our hearts and not a shadow on our hearth. We shall cease to dream of Heaven, having Para- dise on earth. Mind and mind, and heart and heart shall meet each other over books liead together, e'en as runnels, meeting, mingle into brooks. We shall loye each other better as the beaming days go t)y ; Often will my tender words awake the soft light in her eye. When we talk of vanished days in dreamy under- tones of rest, Warmly shall my arms embrace her, while she nes- tles to mv breast. 70 LELIA LEE. Pity for our foes shall be till bitterness no longer lives ; Not a thought of hate shall burn to mar the bliss our triumph gives. Every day some winged charm will leave its cum- bering chrysalis ; All the good that may not be we will create from good that is. Every duty will be dear, for love shall all our being be ; I will live for her alone, and all her smiles will be for me. When I'm weary with long toil, her kiss will rest me at the door ; When I enter home the fetters of the day shall chafe no more. I will leave upon the threshold all vexations, cares, and strife: Shadows in a world of shade, but only sunshine with my wile ! I^ELIA LEE. 71 Love shall weave itself a body ; baby eyes to me shall speak ; Cool, soft lips caress my own, and little hands lie on my cheek. Love shall broaden like a tree, and blossom through the sunny years. Striking deeper roots, and bearing frnit but rij)enet| by life's cares. 'Round our hearth will sons and daughters gather at their mother's knee, List to stories of the past and wonder that such days could be. For our ]>resent will be the past, to children of the coming years; They will only see our smiles, for dusty days will hide our tears. Fancy then will rear the fabric to the level of its spire ; It will be the good old time, the magic magnet o^ de.sire. 72 LELIA LEE. In those days of large attainments, when the btids of promise now Seen by wise eyes that but marvel, shall be fruit upon the bough ; When the great suggestions yield that redden in the fires of thought; When at last in human hearts the anchor of the world is wrought ; Still the tendrils of desire will strongly twine about the past. And the ruin of old creeds with tender light be overcast. Silver hairs beloved and cherished make the past and present one ; Love still kisses friends departed, though their every wreath be gone. But I waken from my dreaming, and the roses all around With their perfume lade the breeze, and with their petals strew the ground. LELIA LEE. 73 SONG. O hasten, Autumn, with thy grief Of wailing winds and withered leaf; Come, quickly come through wood and wold, And gild all nature with thy gold ; Oh, dear will be thy smiles to me, For love and Lelia come with thee. O come and give the trees their crown. And let thy scarlet robe fall down O'er each and all, till in the glades Its distant train in beauty fades ; But love shall be my crown, more fair, And bliss shall be the robe I wear. What matter if the birds do flee And li'ave the lonely world to thee '? How bright will be that loneliness Which she with tender words shall bless! Let all things go ! I'll happiest be When most alone with Lelia Lee. 74 LELIA LEE. We »hall i>ot fear thy chilly breath Which strews the earth with blushing death ; But, nestled warmly, breast to breast, We'll lie like birdliiigs in a nest, And smile at every raving blast That smites the pane while rushing past. O come, and streak the meadow's head With silvery gray of grass that's dead ; Come, bring the purple, star-gemmed night. Its solemn stillness and pale light ; O hasten, for I lon^ to see The starry eyes of l^elia Lee. THE WALHONDING. LELIA LEE. 77 III, Slowly, shyly goes the summer, leaving in the heart and miud All the perfume of its flowers, and its whispered thoughts, behind. Tripping, coquetting September! smiling till the heart is won, Coldly turns she from her lovers, leaves them with a haughty frown. Now the lint-white hair and red, that waved in summer's breezy morn, Clustering in thick, black ringlets, overhangs the ears of corn. Asters, goldea-rod and gentians rule the kingdom of the flowers ; Slowly, through Time's half shut fingers, slip the sands in solemn hours. 78 LELIA LEE, Autumn sings of days gone by to fairies clustered at her fevt ; Underlying every tone there sighs a cadence bitter- sweet. Strolling in the Indian summer, all my being strongly sets To sweet themes that touch to tears, and which the bosom ne'er forgets. Far off in the lonely forest do I hear the acorns fall ; In the trees the squirrels sport, and from the marsh t.ie blackbirds call. From the brush the partridge whirs, across my path the rabbit leaps. Startled, down the hollow, swift on gleaming wing, the redbird sweeps. From the woods the shrill jay screams, and merry laughter borne from far Tells me where, beneath the nut-trees, all my merry comrades are. LELIA LEE. 79 Love to them has been the satin, next the chestnut, in the burr, Bitt to me the cruel thorns, — yet it is true, it loves but her ! Love for one has made of me a dreamy stranger to my kind ; It were best so, if love trusted blindly, and could be all blind. 'Tis a time when the heart wakes, alert in every spirit-sense; Now companionship can stir each thread of life, al- ready tense. Love in many hearts is waiting but a channel where to flow ; Melting now to nature's mood, all loving souls are doubly so. I am lonely as a bird, left by the flock, without a mate; Shivering In this paling sun, heart-weary and all dejsolate. 80 LELIA LEE. From its cavern in the sky descends the newly- wakened breeze, Spins the dust in tops gigantic, silver-flecks the maple trees. ]■ irst it raves in sorrow's fury, shrieking out its wail- ing cries ; Then despair with sorrow mingles^ and its voice is lost in sigh*. I am changeful, too, and fickle, puppet to a sickly mood, With a maudlin love of nature, born of too much solitude. I had thought to seek her now, but whispers sweep the harp of love, And it mourns prophetic dole, like the far coo- ing of a dove. Faith, I bid thee silence Doubt I the world, with a sharp beak of lies, Pulls the heart to bits for sport, nor pities till its. victim dies. LELIA LEE. 81 What have I to do with munmirs breaking from a babbling lip ? With a man whose heart is dead could Lelia find companionship? I, who think myself unworthy, can I deem her fallen so low As to meet his gabe with love? — and while laws reign, could it be so? All to me and one to him ! Perhaps those hearts are happiest Which are so much mixed with clay that the last eyes that smile are best. Rumor shall not shake a purpose founded on my love and oath ; These dark days may yet prove angels bringing blessing for us both. Every falling leaflet thrills me like some face with beauty bright Only seen one little instant ere it vanishes from sight. 6 82 LELIA LEE. Wounded trees are oozing bLiod which stands iu drops upon the leaves ; All the forest kings are dying, dying while their mother grieves. Ah, they die, but life is in them still to give wan death the lie ; Lelia, I have loved too well, and love and God caa never die. Hark ! her tender tones are thrilling through this spirit-haunted air, — Thrilling through it like soft music through some half-divine despair: — Yes, she calls! my heart can hear the voice that bids me go to her ; I would haste to her embrace if deep in Death my darling were. LELIA LEE. 83 SONG. I am coming, O beloved, To tliy bower by the stream ; I am coming, O beloved, Light me with thy bright eye's beam. Let thy love shine through the shadows With soft radiance divine ; Let thy loving heart be faithful For my heart is ever thine. I am coming, O beloved. And my heart is mad with bliss ; Soon my ardent soul will quiver To the rapture of thy kiss ! I am coming, O beloved ; All the floating clouds above Glimmer with a holy halo Overspread with lambent love. 84 LEI J A LP:E. I am coming, darling, coming, And thy smile lies all around, Blessing with a l)righter beauty All the brilliant, leaf-strown ground. Darling, darling, welling upward From my very soul of souls, Is a passion, flaming, burning Which through all my being rolls. What a matted mass ol beauty In the wooded vnlley lies, — All the forest blooming brighter Than the blush of sunset skies: Softer, Lelia, and more rosy Will the rays of our love twine ; What a rainbow could be woven From the faintest smile of thine! I am coming, O beloved. As a turtle seeks its nest ! I am coming, O beloved, As a saint would haste to rest ! LELIA LEE. 85 See you meet me, see you greet me Lest my soul should faint in me I Darling Lelia, dove-eyed I^elia, I am languishing for thee. •IV. From this bridge, far down the stream, I dimly see the willow tree Neath whose shadow, in the jiast, my love so often sat with me. There are pictures in the mind that time or sorrow never dims; La>t to fade of all are scenes that warm affeetion brightly lim »s. O that by this pleasant river I a little home might rear ; Life would be all peace, nor lack one chtiim, if we mij^h [>a.ss it here. 86 LELIA LEE. How familiar every pathway ! Every tree and rock I know, They are bright with their own beauty and dear thoughts of long ago. I will gather these wild asters, and the daisies at my feet; I will wreathe her head with flowers, as of old, when we shall meet. Quietly will Lelia meet me, with fond dew-drops in her eyes, And her full, fresh lips will tremble, roses in her cheeks will rise. 'Neath the willow now I hear her, — just a voice and not the words ; Her low tones by distance softened, sound like sleepy songs of birds. O my heart! how thou art bounding with a rap- ture, mystic, mad; Strange that ghostly expectation chills thee when thou art so glad ! LELIA LEE. 87 Ah! but every bliss is maddened by the sorrow it €onceals, Till, if thought were on the throne, the heart would wonder what it feels. Is she talking to the river, asking it if I am near? Does her bosom overflow with love so wistfully sincere? Modest, meek-eyed little Lelia, beauty bends her brightest bow O'er the shore and through the blue, where'er thy dainty footsteps go. Does my darling dream of me? Then blessings on her pretty head — With her voice another mingles, and my spirit qjuakes with dread ! Stealing nearer, I behold them — better that I did not see ! Peter Phipps is at her side to stifle any thoughts of me. 88 LELIA LEE. On her linger is a ring whose gems gleam brightly in the snn; Oh! it needs no words to tell me now that western wealth has won ! Ah, the Babylonian Beltes reigns as in the days of old; At her shrine the girls are offered, waiting for the piece of gold. Jarring is her laugh, and hollow in its mockery of bliss, — See ! I think she almost shudders 'neath the tri- umph of a kiss. Sh'*, too, suffers ! So it should be! for her very soul is sold ; May her heart within her wither! his be heavy as his gold ! L'-t nif, like a wounded eagle, look but once upon the sky, Th?n, in silence of the forest, let me hide myself and die ! J'flii 1 liJj))>^ I-. ii lid sJtU toMiJk iii\ tUouglitsot'uie. LELIA LEE. 91 Oh, what mysteries were solved, if I should break the bonds of clay ; All ray nobler aspirations beckon, beckon me away. Die? — why should I not? for life is full of all that should not be ; Surely it has never given aught but misery to me. Folded in the fallen leaves, strown by the breeze above my breast, Far away, and all alone, how quiet it will be to rest. What will matter to me then the sorrows of the earth o'erhead? Memory^s voice no sound awakens in the deaf ears of the dead. Golden haired, a smiling seraph guards the gateway of the west ; See ! the sun has passed the portal, and is sinking into rest. 92 LELIA LEE, In an instant I can })a8S the portal of the wo«der- gate; I have power to leaive my sorrows, break my cliains — and must I wait ? Fool I my hope should sta;y my haad ! for if no other joy lemain, There is even bliss in bearing half the weight of others' pain. Life is worthier than death ; sonse end is throbbing- in all pain ; I shall not regret my grief when God has made its purpose plain. But to me this place is loathsome; let me softly steal away ; Let me hide within myself, and shun the world as owls shun day. Would to G«>d she had been true! ahis, wlien love that was divine, Sinks in sorrow like to heli, and burns and blights like thi< of mine! LELIA LEK m Fniuter, fainter grow their voices — dead each tooe in distaace now.; I am faint, and here will rest beneath this oldefa oak-tree's boiigli. Can it be that woman waxes warm and cold, as sea- sons change? Are her loves, like summer insects, restless born, and formed to range? Like false lights that hire the ship to jaws that crush it, near the coast, Are her smiles that lead to ruin those who love .and trust her most. It is sad when serpents hide between the pinks on beauty's breast. Sadder is it if no doves among the lilies ever rest ! How can he believe the Hies she -archly tells him with her eyes, If he knows they lied to me, in days that were my paradise ? 94 LELIA LEE. Oh, it does not seem in nature that she can be false to me ! O, my heart, 'tis piteous! I pity thee, I pity thee! Surely it was not my Lelia sat encircled by his arm, — I will not believe her faithless ! this is all a false alarm I It was some one who resembles her that sat beneath the tree; Lelia ever was true-hearted, and she still is true to me. Hark ! the faint and distant thundering of hoofs and wheels I hear. And a windy little cloud is rolling rapidly more near. Every hoof-beat falls upon it — oh ! my brain is hot and reels, Sickened, sickened! lam deafened by the whirring of the wheels I LELIA LEE. 95 It is she ! and he is with her — thus her falseness mocks my trust : To my feet a paper flutters in a little cloud of dust. 'Tis a letter, stamped, addressed; she meant to mail it in the town : Is it bliss or black despair these breezes to my feet have blown ? It is but a formal sentence, yet I read it o'er and o'er : — "I have changed, my heart no longer is your own as heretofore: *' 'Tis their will — you can forget me — we must meet no more — good bye ! " Yet I saw when she was passing, tear-drops in her saintly eye! And an air of conquered will, self-abnegation, in her then, Made her sacred seem, and holy, — fairer than she e'er had been. 96 LELIA LEE. She has sold herself to duty — she, a sac re ( sacri- fice, On an altar, worse than heathen, wiiitinii for (lie daofger^ liee ! Lelia, Lelia, I forgive you I It uas Avild to w\>li you ill ; Would my life could shield that heart which hvcaks because it loves me still ! V. Yesterday I kissed a child^ half eynie in my dis- content ; Baby lips, not meant to thrill, weird fire through everv fil>er sent. Ruefully I dream of Lelia, fitful dreams, but do> not tire ; At the touch of any hand my heart awakes to vague desire. LELIA LEE. 97 I have seen her eyes in visions till they haunt me all the day, Even dancing 'neath the lashes of the children at their play. So the gleeful little cherubs are made doubly dear to me, And they smile in glad surprise, I fondle them so tenderly. I will love them till the children shall be lost in coming years. Till their trust and innocency, shyly fading, dis- appears. When I wooed her, she, I thought, was pure and honest as a child : Could I trace deceit and shame in words and deeds so chaste and mild? Slander's lowest tones, like adders, stealing thi'ough the startled air, Pass from lip to lip, until their hiss is echoing everywhere : 7 98 LELIA LEE. It is whispered that the real marriage has been, but his name She will take on New-Year's day, — it is a form that lessens shame. Love is in its nature free ; it may be crushed, it may be slain, But it will not be compelled; its noble nature scorns a chain. Lelia, if she sinned, was frenzied; when a heart has lost its all. Like a madman on a tower, it laughs, and does not fear to fall. Duty ! can this act be duty that will break the hearts of both? Is it just that she must wed with one her very soul must loathe? LELIA LEE. 99 TO LEI.IA. O Lelia ! can your heart forget What you would swear it has forgot ? Can love be all in all, and yet So soon remembered not? Can you forget the vows you spoke With trembling lip and dewy eye ? Or think of how those vows you broke Without, at least, a sigh? Though you have striven, can you quite Erase from tender memory, The glory of the past delight, The hours that used to be? How many friends were near to show A better way than God has shown. Ere we were parted ! But they now Have left you all alone. 100 LELIA LEE. Any who seek to blight a love Are far too base to know its power, Or else are demons ! 1 hey who strove With intrigue, many an hour, To change you, pleading that their years Had given them experience, — Why do they leave you, love, in tears ? Is this the recompense ? My curse upon those meddlers, who Foretold despair if not obeyed. They that may say, " I told you so," When th(y have ruin made ! They never trod your path, or mine ; They could not feel with either heart, Yet knew that only thorns could line Those paths, unless apart ! You listened. Lelia, and my heart Has been all dark since first you frowned ; In spite of will, the tear drops start — My life with thorns is crowned. LELIA LEE. lOl There is no love that is not true, There is no love that can forget ; However crushed, or riven through With frowns, 'tis faithful yet. Whatever change of heart there be, 'Tis but the passions that can change ; It is as true as truth to nie, That even though love range, 'Twill weep e'en while 'tis wandering, And long for its deserted rest. And eve will waft its downy wing- Back to its first fond nest. Does your heart never, never melt In golden dreams of former weal, And touched by joys that it has felt. Remember it can feel ? You said that you had changed, but yet Your woman's heart the words disowned ; Tears in your eyes like sapphires set, E'en for your I'rown atoned I 102 LELIA LEE. O long has been your erring track, And many a stain do others see ; But still I love you ! O come back, My love, come back to me ! One who would give his life for you Offers his heart to shield your own. One who can love and pity, too. When other's smiles are gone. Lelia, come back ! one heart is left To whom you may be sunlight still, One who, when of your smile bereft, In life finds only ill. Whate'er your stains, they cannot last, I'll wash them out with many a tear. Come back ! I will forget the past In knowing you are near. We will not think of joys that died, Nor of the sorrows that were born ; The past may in its shadows hide ; We'll welcome the new morn. LELTA LEE. 103 Thy dear heart's sorrows bid me weep ; I'm wounded by the thorns you strew ; But ever in my heart I keep The same old place for you. Destiny has parted us, and it is useless to resist ; All my hope has faded from me, as the moonlight fades in mist. On the New- Year she will wed him, and the days too swiftly speed, For I would not see her his, although I know 'tis so decreed. Stay, O Autumn, do not go ; thy sadness and meek melancholy Soften, with their spell, my sorrows to a calm that's almost holy. Stay, for winter stern and rude, will have no heart to sigh with me ; Thou hast won me with thy promise, soothe me with thy sympathy. 104 LELIA LEE. Stay, oh, stay with me ! Thou art a friend in joy and woe the same, While the friendship of my kind is only friendship in the name. Nature, thou hast been to me a solace and a dear delight, Lend thy smile to drive away the doleful darkness of this night. Mother, let me lay my head upon thy mossy lap and rest ; Mother, thou hast been my mother ! I with thee am happiest. I have told thee all my secrets, all my sorrow thou hast known ; Thou hast been my only comfort when the hard world left me lone. Never yet didst thou desert me, never yet unkind hast proved, Thy great heart can understand me, and we love as few have loved. LELIA LEE. 105 Men have made them groove-like paths, and those are fools who follow not ; In thy ear, alone, the poet dares to pour his free, wild thought. Men are ruled by bastard notions, kiss the feet of sceptered fools; Loneliness to me is better, where the heart or rea- son rules. Those who suffer not for truth are wrong, unless the truth be old ; Oh ! how many thoughts are crushed while they are throbbing to be told ! Deep emotions upward rush, and tremble on tlie tuneful tongue. But they fear the frowning world, and sadly hide away unsung. And the over-burdened heart in silence suffers long, and breaks ; Then, to the despair it nourished, all the world in wonder wakes. 106 LELIA LEE. Those who smiled not for the living, pour their tears upon the dead, But no kindred soul is found until the lonely soul has fled. I will dare to own the truth, whatever be the world's belief; I would hear thy voice, O Nature, though all other ears were deaf. All that I best loved is taken — she of whom I sang to thee ; Thou hast never mocked my passion, thou canst sympathize with me. Let thy daughter Autumn stay, for she was made to weep with me ; True condolence ever proves an angel in Gethse- mane. To My DEAR WIFE This THIRD CANTO OF LELIA LEE Is Offered in Love, AS AN EXPRESSION OF MY DESIRE To Link Her Name With This, the Least Unworthy Of My Works. LELIA LEE. 107 LELIA LEE. Canto III. Lorsque je vols un amant, II cache en vain son toiirraeut, A le traliir tout conspire, •Sa langueur son embarras, Tout ee qu'il peut faire ou dire, Meine se qu'il ne pas. — La Fosse. I. Slowly, sadly, five long years o'er thorn-lined paths have crawled away Since the witchery and woe of lovely Lelia's wed- ding day. Wildly wailed the wind, and madly through each crevice shrieked it wild. Like weird cries of terror breaking from the breast of some lost child; 108 LELIA LEE. Quaking, quivering, the building creaked with many a ghostly sound. Shaking like a furious giant stricken with a deadly wound. Everywhere a fearful presence seemed to brood, and chuckle, " Gold, Bought with gold and brought to grief, — 'tis done, her heart and peace are sold !" I could read it in her face, I heard it in the raving trees, And its echo struck my soul, and made each purple channel freeze. In the rustle of her robes there seemed enchant- ment ; and a spell. Woven by her glittering jewels, coldly on my bosom fell. Few who saw her at the altar would have dared to guess her thought ; Dazed, benumbed, with awful calmness did she give the hand he bought. LELIA LEE. 109 Vague, indefinite terror stole througli all my being as I saw, While her stifled heart was free, her hand was fet- tered by the law : Like another Niobe, a stony figure there she stood ; From her bosom hope had fled, and from her icy cheek the blood. All could see it was not she who stood so silent at his side ; She, — her heart, — was far away ; her body only was his bride.* No resentment in her manner marred the perfect sacrifice, And the smile was calm and holy that illumed her dewy eyes. Yet in all a pathos lurked, far deeper than all spoken thought ; Hers was but the deathly quiet of a bosom over- wrought. 110 LELIA LEE. There are storms whose awful fury smooth the mad waves of the sea; So the heart is awed to calmness by its utter agony. Yellow flames danced in his eyes, on triumph's altar kindled there ; She was listless with the aimless, dreary sickness of despair. She was to him as the toy a child contends for in its play ; But he broke her heart in getting, and soon tossed the toy away. Oh, how many a tender woman, with large senti- ments and sense, Touched by all the finer feelings, full of warm soul power intense ; Made to be a good man^s helper, and to grace a noble sphere "With those sterling qualities that, longest worn, most bright appear ; LELIA LEE. Ill Bowed and bound by false ideas, wear a weary life away, Mated with some brutish man, whose harshness hastes the heart's decay J She was his, forever his, who had been all in all to me. While I felt he loved not her, but only loved his victory. Yet her father beamed with bliss through all his selfish little soul ; She can learn to love, he said, and did not know himself a fool. But a Nemesis was near, and struck as in the days of old ; He had sold his child to sorrow, death was lurking in the gold. Like a dog he fought and fell, a loathly drunken thing, and died. Oaths and curses from his lips, and hot blood gush- ing from his side. 112 LELIA LEE. Mercy treasures all the tears for justice, that the wronged ones weep; Evil pays its own reward of evil ; vengeance does not sleep. In the frozen earth they laid the one whose heart had been as cold ; Just it was, for he had lived too long although he was not old. Only she, the wronged one, wept the tears that froze upon his tomb ; Where they fell sweet flowers will spring, if on such turf they ever bloom ! Humbly, then, she stooped to find the silvery clue that patience lays In each labyrinth of life, and meekly held it all her days. Oh, the deep, unspoken record, traced upon the heart in tears. Through those long, unhappy days that slowly faded into years ! lp:lia lei<]. 113 Gold to silver ohanjrcd, and silver into copper turned at last ; Neither was love thereto gild the base deception of ihe past. Yet she bore, and uncomplaining, his injustice and neglect, Dunihly bore a weight of sorrow that is felt or never recked. From tho palace to the cottage, when the world de- serted him, IJravely, quietly, she iollowed, with a smile no loss could dim. Wronged the most, she most torgavc, and mur- mured not, nor ever chid ; All that is a good wife's })art, with tireless cheer- fulness she did. Even when her heart was bleeding she was gay when he was near ; All her tears in secret fell that home might lose no ray of cheer. 114 LELIA LEE. Sobs choked back, till they but quiver in the laugh they underlie, Are unquiet in their graves, and weep beyond the pitying sky. Tears that women bottle up in breaking hearts, but never shed, Angels gather from the dust, for witnesses, when they are dead. Weak, weak woman ! yet she shrinks not from the burden, but the blftw ; Bravely will she bear or bury griefs the world would blubh to know. All her wrongs she hides away, deep in her heart, where none can see ; Weak in all that's base and rude, strong in all that's heavenly ! Lelia, yet almost a child, the maid of meadow-land and wood. Was a woman as God made her, modest, and by nature good. From the i^alace to the cottage. LELIA LP:E. 117 Seeking nothing for herself, too true to one she never loved, In his battles with the world her oft-pierced heart the best shield proved. In all trials she was near him, a sweet minister of good; When he faltered, and had fall'n, she with him still unfaltering stood. By her gentleness and goodness, peace she pressed from ufiscry; With her tender hands she twined the myrtle round life's cypress tree ! But in all there was a secret worm that eat the flower away ; Faithful wife ! she gave him life by dying for him day by day ! Ah, the bird may sweetly, sadly sing for him who steals its" eyes, But its free heart pines for freedom till the little warbler dies ! 118 LELIA LEE. IT. I have strnn;:!; my lyre with lieart-tlircads; softlj^ let me touch it here : 'Tis a spot that hundreds know, Init only one can know how dear ! Like mv soul, the place is changed, and shrouded in a doleful dress ; Winter where there once was sj)ring, and dearth where once was loveliness. I have seen her wander here, a little prattler at her side, Fair, bright ima»;e of her girlhood, at reflective eventide. " Mother, see the shining water! what a pretty tree is this ! Mother, take my hand; I love yon, mother, and I want a kiss." LELIA LEE. 119 But she did not see the water, did not heed the baby's plea; Ears that heard not, eyes that saw not, heart that walked with Memory ! Oh, how lorn was all the place! an old house stood here long ago ; 'Mid the ruins still, in Summer, garden herbs and flowers grow. Mingled here the rose and rue, the myrtle and the mignonette, And the air ol other days hung sadly o'er the old place yet. Lelia here sat down and wept, the child in wonder standing by, Lisping broken words of comfort, watching with a pitying eye. Kuined home, and ruined life! wan Desolation crowned with flowers ! Sadness rendered more than sad by artless hints of happier hours! 120 LELIA LEE. SONG. She sat among the ruins old, She whose true heart in ruins lay ; The beads of memory she told, As waned the Summer day. Fair pinks and pansies at her feet Among the poisonous wild weeds grew ; The monk's-hood touched the mosses sweet. The cedar touched the yew. She told the beads, and Summer hours Tripped by, all glowing in the sun ; Smiles lit her tenrs; she saw the flowers That yet remained, alone. She told the beads, and oh I her tears Poured like the doleful, April rain ; The flowers died, weed-choked by years, And sorrow frowned a^raiu. LELIA LEE. 121 She told the bead of mother-love, A golden bead with ebon strung ; An angel touched her, and a dove Waked in her heart, and sung. III. Every day a mute heart-hunger deepened in her patient eyes ; Slowly, slowly, day by day, her smiles and songs gave place to sighs. Heavier grew her chain of service, heavier with each month and year. Yet she drag'd its lengthening links nor blur'd her duty with a tear. Her distresses were not his, and ;^he was evermore alone. For her soul could not all shrivel to tiie nature of his own. 122 LELIA LEE. 'Twas her province, so the thought, to love, respect him, and obey. And with wifely tenderness to charm the cares of toil away: But his spirit ne'er responded to an art so delicate; Pitful ! herself she blamed because their house was desolate. Into the gulf that lay between them every tone of sympathy Fell and perished ; for them never kindred thoughts or joys could be. Even dullest routine duties sometimes bring the mind relief, And they brought her, for the moment, half forget- fulness of grief. It may be he thought her happy, for she did not make complaint ; Rude ears heed rude words, but not the suffering silence of the saint. Every day a mute heart-hunger deepened in her pa- tient eyes. LELIA LEE. 12.:) Minds that arc too far asunder, draw tlie hearts apart, as well ; Too great difference in nature makes true love im- possible. Marriage is the coalescing of warm spirits near akin ; Marriage other than soul- kinship, ne'er can be, nor e'er hath been. When two hearts, at love's fire melted, blend and mingle as they run. They are wed ; no hand can part them, God ha? made them ever one. Marriage is not where love is not ; when each love^, the other best They are wed, whate'er the bars that keep each from the other's breast. One iniss-marriage makes four widowed ; four a deep heart-hunger bear, Like a coffin in the heart, forever, though none see it there. ]2fi LELIA LKE. Were it best to scorn such barriers? Oh ! I know not ; earth is part Only of love's life ; and heaven is mind to mind, and heart to heart. Held as sacred, or as nothinsr, they imprison right and weal ; When the hand is bound by law, the heart is fet- tered not to feel. Bind two lives that mingle not, and each the other will repel Till strained heart-strings snap asunder, and each birth-cry is a knell. Better were it to divorce them ; let each seek a fit- ter mate ; Better for the dear home altar, better for the church and state. God has made all things harmonious, like a master- piece of song ; All that jars is out of place ; discord is the birth- scream of wrong. LEi;iA LEE. 127 If the heart-lyre breathe not love, the fault is in the oue who plays ; Break it not, for there are fiiigers that can wake its witching lays. And the fingers that from it but -discord woke, may find a lyre Which will tremble at their touch, and tlirob witli all of passi-en's fife- Love will ever lead aright, but it demands bliml, perfect trust; Those who heed it not shall hide their bleeding, stifled lips in diisL God in every labyrinth of life has laid an easy clue ; Friends are often false or foolish, but the heart is wise and true. 12S LELIA LEE. IV. She is dead, — and it is be-st ! oh from a broken heart I sar Sad, strange words, but they are prompted by a love that lives alway. She is free! the cage is broken, the tormentor powerless ! Ah! the seraph's wings no more can droop and trail in wickedness ! When I saw her sinking, sinking, olden hours clung to me so That I faltered, but my spirit to her spirit whis- pered. Go ! Long her heart had fettered been, but now the chains of flesh were weak And she scorned them in her truth — defied them, and was strong to speak. LELIA LEE. 120 It was never wed to him ! O do not deem her false that she Dreamt of girlhood's fresher days, and whispered in her sleep to me ! Like a slumbering child she lay, unmar'd by any mark of years; On her brow no line of care now, on her cheek no stain of tears. Like the medicinal herb that breathes its life away in bloom She, who daily died that they who crushed her heart might have perfume. Fair and fragile flower, whose weakness should have won the kindest care, Wounded, broken, yet exhaling fragrance while she perished there! When the powers of the body sleep, the soul is most awake ; In the days gone by she lived, and lips long guarded freely spake. 180 LELIA LEE. Yes ; her mind was wandering-, and by the body trammel'd not ; Wandering! but conhl not strike from chords of clay its wondrous thought. Yet I knew she strayed among the roses of her brighter years, For she spoke of sacred dells, endeared by all that most endears. Hand in hand with olden days walked memory, and as a child Smiles when talking with good angels in its sleep^ she spake and smiled: Spake and smiled, th )ugh all unconscious; often murmuring my name: With a naked sword between us, her true heart was still the same. Sunshine smiled upon her soul, and Winter was no longer there ; Summer thoughts were in her heart, and Summer music in her ear. LELIA LEE. 131 'Neath the sycamores and beeches ; by tlie rock and ■\viIlo\v-tree, Strayed slie in tlie maddening moonlight, maiden- hearted, ligltt and free. Logs green-starred with moss; long, deAvy ferns; low murmuring, silvery rills; Opening buds; faint perfume wafted to the valleys from the hills Where unnumbered flowers blushed; the river with its laugh and song ; Faces, tones from other davs, that had been blurred by tears so long, Sparkling with ecstatic freshness, all came back ; and girlhood's heart Sparkled, too ; — 'but soon the light was darkened, and we saw her start; Heard her low, caressing voice, a sob in every ac- cent, plead ; Heard her say, " I cannot, cannot! T love him not; it will breed 132 LELIA LEE. Only sorrow." And a tear stole from her slee{)ing lids, and fell Softly on the pillow, telling all the heart had hid too well. Slowly waked she from her slumber, and the humid eyes so oft Full of sympathy and smiles, and still with deep affection soft, Opened, wild and full of wonder; still her reason dwelt afar And its smile upon her fell as pale and faint as morning's star. But her mind came back and brought an angel that would take away Life, and all that was herself, to realms that rest in love alway. Lips that ever were so kindly, tender tones that al- ways were Full of hope for others, even when no hope re- mained for her, LELIA LEE. 133 Made appeal. Oh, if unkind her words may seem, 'twas not her heart But her eagerness that spoke, and wronged her na- ture's better part ! " Mother, I must leave you now ; I my child, too, leave behind; Mother, you were not to me, but for my sake to her be kind ! •' Mother ! take the little one ; around your heart her love will twine With a freshness warm and true, and tenderness almost divine. "She is his! and you should love her, — his to whom you gave my hand; Kindly treat my little one, for I have died at your command ! " Do not weep so wildly, mother ; I forgive your wrong to me If vou to the helpless orphan will a faithful mother be. 134 LELIA LEE. *' Let me kiss my child !" — then failed the voice, and sunk the fainting head ; She so pale and quiet lay, we wept for her, and deemed her dead. Yet again she spoke : " My heart is weary, and it soon will rest : Bring ray little darling to me, lay her here upon my breast." Then a mystery of loveliness upon her stole, so bright, So refulgent, so celestial, that it awed, yet tranced our sight. O a curtain fell between, love-woven, and she was no more Of our number, though still with us ; dwellers on a happier shore Than her joyous childhood knew and loved, were her companions now ; Slowly, slowly led they her away, away from all below. LELIA LEE. 135 Still her spirit spoke to us through the clear me- dium we knew, Wondrous things we could not know, that bloom beyond the borders blue. Angel's pinions brushed our robes ; we knew them near, but saw them not ; Hoodwinked by our clay we stood, but felt their beauty in our thought. Angels had sustained her living, dying, they were with her still. And with music heaven-born the air of earth was all athrill. Through the window the departing sun its brightest ribbon flung. And a solitary robin on the lilac perched and sung. From the purple West a ladder, alternating pink and gold In its rounds, of light, descended from a bright cloud's snowv fold. 136 LELIA LEE. Soon the ladder was withdrawn, and she had gone, — we knew not when : Oh, what loneliness, what solemn sadness fell upon us then ! Death, what is it to be dead ? it is not, but it looks like sleep. And its sorrow is reflection-born ; we think before we weep. Little hands made soft to give caresses ; smiling lips, still red As when they gave kisses ; waxen cheeks, and nest- ling, curly head. Love-embosomed, O so often ! quiet, breathless breast, where lies, Oh so still, so numb, the faithful heart that lit the loving eyes; — Chained and changed, and to be laid away as of the earth a part, — This, oh, this iis death ! say, is it not, O universal heart? LELIA LEE. 137 Gone from all she used to love, to brighter brooks and flowers above ! Gone, as slowly flies away the mateless, broken- hearted dove ! How the river misses her ! the birds and trees and flowers forlorn, Sigh for her from morn to night, and weep for her from night to morn. Gone ? Oh, say it not ! not gone — she only has come back to me ; Ah ! it is no crime to love now : she is free, forever free ! j^ LEIiTA LEE. 30-N5G& Thou sleepest so quietly, Lelia, That 1 long for the bliss of thy rest; No wrongs can disquiet thy spirit, No hunger U^is hkJ: ia. tli.y breast:. Asleep, with the earth for thy cradle,. And rocked by felie foot of thy God! Since no stroke can haf ni- thee or wake thee, I snvile to- pass iwideF the rod. There were bars between us,, my darlings That only death oow thou art mine as truly As in tlie dear days of oldl — LELTA LEE. I8i) Mine, by the right of devotion, The only right that's divine; — Oh, I bless the angel that touched thee And made thee free to be mine. Death parts some hearts, but others He leads together again; He has reunited us, darling. With ties untouched by a stain! Oh, strange is the courtship of spirits, But fascinatingly sweet: You sleep, and when I am dreaming, I feel that w-e often meet. I know thee when thou art near me, Although Itim blind as vet; I only feel, and can see Mot, I grope in the darkness and fret; But by and by I shall meet thee In a clearer atmosphere, And my eyes shall feast oh thy beauty Forevermore, my dear. 140 LELIA LEE. I have waited !So long, my darliug^ I have waited so long fur thee. That I know, in the land of the angels. Thou wilt wait, still faithful to nie. O, the earth is so full of beauty That my soul is full of song; I shall claim thee, my bride, my beloved, I know I shall claim thee ere loner. V. Better is it to be dead, than to be dead and still live on: Cursed is the breath that breathes when every lively hope is gone ! Whe« the burial is over, well for thase who do not grieve Over words and deeds unkind, that no regret can e'er retrieve I LELIA LEE. 141 O, the wrongs thou didst the dead within thy breaking heart shall live, And despair shall answer "Never," when repent- ance cries "^Forgivel" And an awful expectation of a horror yet to be Shall be ever present torture in thy soul, and madden thee! Thou shalt fear thy very shadow when it flickers on the wall ; In thy sleep colds hands shall grasp thee, deathly terror on thee fall. All thy prayers shall be frozen ere they bubble trom thy heart ; When thou dreamest God is near, at midnight shall thy sleep depart. Hold! I will not curse her more ; I almost pity, and alas ! Ere she left her daughter's grave the bitterest curse had come to pass. 142 LELIA LEE. Ah ! her mind had gone away, retracing all the sad. long vears Back to bathe the graves of early hoi^es with una- vailing tears. Little hands caressed her forehead, but soft, rosy finger tips Could not soothe her care away ; and she was kissed, but velvet lips Could not thrill her shrunken heart. Even child- hood's tenderness could not Freshen with its morning dew the withered flowers of her thought. Hers that melancholy death of mind that dreamsr but does not rave; Quiet, silent e'er was she as one who weeps above a grave. When the spring returned with freshaess, flower*^ and fruit for all beside, She awaked not, but beheld it wondering, and vacant-eyed. LEI.TA T.EE. 143 Sw she slept life's troiil)ley hour is late That fl -ets upon the kisses of hei' mate, When spi'ing-tiine comes. 152 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. Cold reason sleeps, but oh ! the heart awakes And heats with longing till it almost breaks; The cords of being thrill, acutely tense, And aspiration fires the spirit-sense, When spring-time comes. When spring-time comes! — Do not these hearts of ours Hold germs that then will burst in fadeless flowers Touched by warm love, the doors of earth will ope Anil all the race arise in hues of hoj)e, When spring-time comes. SONG. Linked f»r an hour with fite like mine, A shadow fell upon thee, And griefs, which never can be thine, For one brief moment won thee; MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 153 But now thou see^t as others see, — The cloud from thee has lifted, But oh ! its blackness over me Will nevermore be rifted. The love that blesses while we weep Is driven away by laughter ; It goes, but leaves its foot-prints deep For heart-sears ever after. Farewell, and mingling with the gay, Forget our love and sorrow,; The kisses that were mine to-day, Give some one else to-morrow. Yet, sometimes, Bertha, when the sun Is hid by cloudy weather, And you weep absent joys alone, — Think how we wept together I And should you then regret the part Y<)u play while Iriends caress you, llemembpr, there is still a heart That onlv beats to bless vou. 154 MISCELLAXEOUS POEMS. ACROSTIC. Could we but see, behind each cloud Love hides himself with smiling eyes ; And oh, the storm moc^t fierce imd louf) Urges us on to |>ar»clise. IK) not despair, then, come what mtty ; In all l>e l)ravc. stud trust in (hn]; Xe'er leave, whut/'er bef;*!!, the way; KiT po', but step where He has trod. TO WILDA. See; darliug, how the mists are curled. The golden tresses, from his brow. While happily the loving world Clas^ps heaven to his bosom now ! The thrush jxiuns from his cpiircring breast A silvern rill of melody, ISut song \n\s u-'vei- litilfexpressed The rapture of my love fur thee I MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 155 How brightly dawns our wedding dav, Still sunnier as the honr draws near ; But oh I thy glances shame its rav , Their sparkling softness makes it dear. Thy hand in mine, I tear no ill, My gi'iefs, like chMids, are overpast ; ]'or thy fair sake, may ea.-J! day still Add love and and luster to the last. JvuY 1, ]>-m. THE BKE HAS FOUND THE CLOVKR. The bee has found the eluver, Now winter's wind.s are past; Where tarries my true lover? M'ill h.- find me at hist? I'm. willing to be mated, — I'd yield tu Hurry's art ; Whore stays the dear one fated To give me lieart for heart ? to() MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, The heart is warm in summer, And «lreams in wordless song ; Love is a welcome comer When eves are bright and long. — I'm willing to be mated, — I'd yield to Harry's art ; Where stays the dear one fated To give me heart for heart ? No rude eye should discover Love's soft, sweet secrecy, But the bee has found the clover ; Will my true love find me? I'^m willing to be mated, — I'd yield to Harry's art; Where stays the dear one fated To give me heart for heart"? MISCKLLAXEOT'S POKMS. 15« APRIL DAYS. The angel-dnys have come to v-ake The blossoms Avith n kiss ; Above the trees their tresses shake, — The CTirls of ^ romping miss. I hear them calling in the wood, And laughing in the -dell, As children play in merry mood:; And oh ! I love them well. Their mother, young and fair, will sing. Extending glowing arms. And they will climb the lap of Spring And wreathe her brow w'ith charms, Apkii., 1884. TO ADELEE. I die in rosy dreams of tfe-ee, Like a star in the light of morn ; 1 die in a dream of Adelee, I die, and again ajii born; JBut nightly vigils are sweet, so sweety For then it is that oar spirits meeU 160 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. I miss thee at the morning tide, I miss thee at noon and eve, My heart yearns for thee all the day. And all the night I grieve ; ^Tis wait and long and long and wait, And to wait is to be disconsolate. I look upon the midnight sky And lo ! thy image is there ; I see thee, too, in every flower. Hear thee in the song-thrilled air : Each dale and dell, each song and tree Can tell me something of Adelce. I stroll the shore beneath the moon And watch the river weave. With silvery shuttle, the woof of life. And smile, and fondly believe Each golden thread in the ebony Is light thy love will bring to me. * * This poem Is reprinted liere because of its Incompleteness as It appears In "Fanny Fay and Other Poems." MISCELLANEOX-S POEMS. Kil WHEN OLD FRIENDS MEET. Tears light the faded eye, aud, quieken'd by such dew, Tho dust of withered ro.ses freshens into hloom ; The heart wakes in the past, and all tiie world is new. For the present sleeps and dreams in exquisite senii-glooni : Like autunjn'b ravishing sadness, that time, oh more than swcanners sweet Were less to her than honest love And honest hoj)e of better days; Our rustic queen of mead and grove Bade tins;h as gay as gladsome May, slie still can think and feel ; Where lives are sear, she drops a tear that sparkles into weal. Her sinless heart and guileless art are welcome everywhere ; She is not one life's joys to slum, nor lightly hold its care ; Her svmpathy is full and free for all of human- kind ; Her woman's wiles and generous smiles are blos- soms of her mind. She never bow'd with the rabble crowd that wor- ships the millionaire, But, in her eyes, the good are wise, and manhood beyond compare. With daily deeds !rhe fits the needs of many a heart and home ; Her charity blesses all she possesses, and she is white as foam. MISCELLAXEOT^S POEMS. 169 She is only human, a connnou woman, not un_ womanly made by the world, Where foolish passion for wealth and fashion con- geals love's fountain impcarled ; — A sweet world-mother who feeds for another as joy- ing or sorrowing too; No idle dreamer or cunning sohemcr, but one who can feel and do. A NATION'S SIN, Thousands of unsusi>eeting countrj^ girls from 10 to 14 3'^ears old are annually allured to ruin in this city alone. — X Y Paper ] A cry from the depths of the city A wail from the dens of despair; It smites through my ears to my heart, It follows me everywhere. MTSCKLLAXEOUS POEMS- In tlie meshes of human spiders They struggle, despair and die, The dear ones, so loved and cherishe*^ In dew-bright days gone by. Poor little wide-eyed fledgelings! They flutter in the snare All guileless, and trusting the spoilers With ehild-love, pure as prayer. From the fragrant, flowery meadow And the sweets of a rustic home, Betrayed into dens of darkness Where hope can never come ! The hand that should lie in mother^ Held fast in the grasp of lust ! God pity the poor, the helplcvSs, Who would not sin, but must. No more to follow the winding Of fresh green woody ways, MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 171 Or drive the patient kine afield lu the cool of summer days; Kg more to meet with tlie children At school to study, or play ; No more to l)o\v with mother At even-fall, and pray ; No more the joyance of goodness, No more to be free from care, But laid on each tender heart Is the burden hardest to bear. The peals of innocent laughter That rippled among the hills, To the harlot's chr.cUle must harden Througii a thousand deadly ills. The innocent eyes of childhood, So earnest, deep and fair, That fall before rude glances, Must learn the shameless stare. 1*2' MtSCELLAXEDUS POEMS. And the young heart, so pure, so buoyant Aforetime^,. in«st lervrn to find^.- A joyless, a sjwage joy In the ruia of its- kkid. 'I'hrough a^ll the centuries ery The babies of TJethfehem ; Slit Herod left comfort behind him, — He only murdered them. tV'^e M'eep for the ravished Lucretia ;. But the princes of our time Could teach to Sextus Tarquinius The alphabet of crime. How long, O great Jehovah, How long will thy patience hold ?" Is the cup of thy wrath not full AVhen souls are bought and sold?" The cloud that veils fire in its boson-i I'oreshadows the stovm in glo«>m ;; lVnSCi:LLA:XEOUS POEMS. ITS 'The time is at hand, and over the world Hangs «ie back %Vhen love and thought meet warm in me:, ^nd, that tile | nst no charm may la^k^ Twish to ecu it o'er wiih. thee. 174 MISCELLANEOUS POEMb^ BENEATH THE WILLOW. Oh, there are times when all within Longs, deeply longs for days of old ;; We lose, in thoughts of what has been^ The present's raptures manifold. W^hen maiden nature wakes to song And youth smiles fresh on hill aaid shore. Then half-forgotten love grows strong For those who wake, oh, nevermore I Where deep the weeping willow dips- Its slender sprays into the stream That kisses them, with trembling lips. And idles by as in a dream; There lies a maiden, fast asleep^ With lily hands t-rosscd on her breast : And oft I go^ and i(oin,u' wecj)^ Through dreunilaud ty her plaec of rvst. ^Twas when the mourning evening threw Her widow's v<-il athwart the skies, And flowers and grass were wot with dew., il Imgerod last by where she lies. — Tar in the west the parting day Throbbed, till it died inecRtaey, And all the spirit of the May, So elfin- sad, enveloped me. 'To-day I yearn, half weeping, yearn "To seek again that sorrowing tree ; IVEy thoughts, like compass-needles, turn To her4ooe grave, where'er I be. O nothing ever wholly dies Which heart or head has dearly known-.; ^Vithin my heart still beam those eyes That years with grass has over ^rowu. 176 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. fan:sy. 1 he rock was tringed with fcnis and vinos^ 'A little cave beneath it, And the soft breeze that wantoned there^ It was a joy to breathe it ; A little brook ran laughing through A vale that stretched before me. And many a happy bird and bee Sang in the branches o'er me : Flowers strewed the ground as thick as stars' But fairer far than any The rose that blu.shed upon my breast^ My peerless^ pretty Fanny. In school-boy days that cave was home^ And she, my wee wife, blessed it; What shy, arch love was in each heart, If either could have guessed it! Long years have passed since then, but each Whispered the dear old story } MLSCELLAXEOrS POEMS. 177 A halo sparkles round our hearts And lights each day with glory ; — As children in our mimic home The happy days were many ; But added years are added bliss, For I'm to marry Fanny. I PLEDGE XOT LOVE TILL DEATH. I pledge not love till death, Nor aslv such pledge of you, If bounded by a breath Love never could be true ! I'd rather miss your hand While darkly groping here, Than be lonely in the land That should not know a tear. To change were not to be, — Identity must live ; I pledge eternally The leal heart that I give ! 12 ITS MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. Love loves iu earth or heaven Bat one ; and God is love ; So heart from heart will not be riven By the laws obeyed above. A KISS. A maiden sat by a brooklet And sang a happy song, Which, like the sparkling water, Flowed and rippled along. And, looking over her shoulder, I saw her form expressed Among the reflected flowers That lay in the brooklet's breast 'Twas evening ; the floor of heaven Had blushed beneath the tread Of angels of mercy, watching The earth from overhead ; MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. The flowers on the shore were touching, My heart can see them yet, — The ripples went by atrembk, — Fond h'ps 'neath the water met ! AFTERGLOW. E'en as the ni^ht AVith stars is blest. Thy eyes shall brightly Tllimio my breast ; And, however dark ]My heart may be. It still will sparkle With dreams of thee I For, as diamonds hold The light of the sun. And still gleam golden When day is done. So my heart is To thy smiles a gem, i8@ MISCELLANEOriS POEMS. And, phosphorescent, It sparkles with them. In a golden dream, When we'er parted, dear; So, in sweetest seeming, You sre always near. Dec, 185o. A STAR BURNED OUT, The misty light of a million stars Is rained upon the world ; The tender leaves of the Cistus flower In their scented cup are curled : Rest claims the solemn forest dells, And every tree -and vine ; All living things have gone to sleep Except this heart of mine. H'us'hed is the lowing of the kine, The birds in their Jiests are still ; :\nSCELLAXEOUS POEMS. 181 Night's somber queen can calm a world, But not the human will ! My tearful glance is chained to-night On the Sisters who weep and wait^ For my sad heart has lost a star, And I share the Pleiads' fate. AURORA IN A PURPLE MIST. Aurora in a i)urj)le mist Arises from the eastern sea; The globes of dew are Iris kissed And song enchants each radiant tree; "With graceful ankles all so white They shame the snowy petticoats, And rosy cheeks, and eyes all light, The milkmaids seek the pasture lots. Shy chipmunks glide along the rails, The linnet and brown thrush are gay; From copse and bramble call the quails, Aad raoekbirds hail the jocund day. 182 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. Blithe girlish voices, raised in song, Flow in far echoes 'mong the hills ; It is as if the world grew young. And would forget all human ills, The boys go whistling forth to feed Affectionate, dependent stock ; About their feet, with eager greed, The fowls in expectation flock. Following their old patriarch, The sheep throng to their troughs of grain; By his masters side, with joyous bark, The watch-dog frolics down the lane. Each girl returns with brimming pail. The farmer drives his team afield, And yonder wind-mill lifts its sail Like a crusader's snowy shield. And peace and love shall guard the farm ; Its virtuous women, honest men Lift for the right a giant's arm, And half win Eden back again. MISCELLAXEOUS POEMS. 185 REGRET— A MEDLEY. Sometimes will rise a specter of regret From out the deep abyss of oilier years, And steal, like shadoAvs when the sun is set, Slow through the heart, while sad dew drops in tears ; We search our minds sometimes for little prints Of feet that rest from all their wanderings now. And kiss the flowery, faded wreathe that hints Of summer rambles when the sun was low, — It is the recollection that the sprays Have of their scattered roses; — that the leas Retain, in winter, of their summer days, — An influence as soft as sleeping tropic seas. I wonder, while I watch that rosy sky Where golden domes and spires are seen to stand As if the city of the better land Were half revealed to mortal wish and eye, 184 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. If, far back in that purple cloud of mist But near the sparkling gate of amethyst, She, idol of the dear, fleet days gone by, Stands, dreaming purer dreams, but still like mine ? l^or love makes life on earth almost divine, And heaven will be too holy for our race If in it the dear smile, beloved bo much, The gentle voice, the hand of tender touch, Be but a m^uDry, and find no part nor place. She can behold, from her high station there. Her home among the trees j and on the hill The church ; the lanes, the pathway by the rill, And all the groves and grots we thought so fair. But I, removed from every early scene. See only, in my heart, the churchyard green. That rises like Saul's vision of despair ! It is a comfort, when the little spark We trusted, vanishes and leaves all dark. To think, somehow, in the deep, solemn night MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 1S5 A whisper from the earth can reach it yet, And tell its love and all its fond regret Until its fault is pardoned, and all wrongs made right. *The sorrow of my sorrow is to know That my last word to her was rudely spoke, For I am tortured lest her true heart broke Beneath tiie anguish of so iiide a blow. How could she know, dear girl, that slander- ous tongues Were the fell instrument of all our wrongs ? Truth oft comes late, and following her is woe ! Alas ! one little word can touch the heart With shadows that may lift, but ne'er depart. And make the dearest retrospection pain : For years we watch our demon, then an hour We sleep, and wake a victim of its power, And feel forever on the heart its mark and chain I Could I but meet her in the shady laue Where we have wandered in the days gone by, 6^ JirSCEEEAlS^EOTJS POE^rS. She would forgive me, and with pitying eye- Drop tears of balm upon the wounds that pain ;: She then would know, that, in the heart of youth. Brighter than all things else glo\y love- ands' truth : Yes ; ske wauld p»rdoa eouldwe mcset again. O could I rise to where those clouds are curled" Above the gate-way of the other world, There would I seek her, there would, plead my cause ! — Would ask, were more forbidden,, to forget ; There is a gravitation in regret That holds me ever;, woe is mightier than alE laws, 'Tis not by- ho|)c, but doubt, the soul is drivei-fc Back on itself to sorrow or despair j Is it too much to hope that they still care, Who cared for us of old, even in heaven ? May they not bow sometimes from near the' thTOttie MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 187 Until our yearning spirits touch their own And feel, though parted, we are still not riven? Sometimes on eves like this I feel 'tis so, And half forget ray self-reproachful woe ; However it may be^ all that is good Within me wakes to life e'en as I think, And I am rendered stronger, for I drink Of spirit-fouatsthat render life half understood. Across yon brook the happy children play And laughingly lookback through wreathes of flowers, Ne'er hid for long, though they be gone for hours, Xor ever lost to us, iwr far away ; May not the dead be even like to these ? Heaven is not far, thoagh there be mysteries To stop our ears and blind us to its ray : Let those whose pulses bound, whose hearts are fire, To distant heights of perfect truth aspire ; 1S8 MISCELLAXEOUS POEMS-. Faint with long toil, etjt last each luimbled? breast Will say, I anr too weary now todimb, The goai I sought was near me alfthe time ;- Mady smiling, then in>peace mlL enter iMo rest^ THOUGH THOT SOFT TOUCIT.. Though that soft touch £ love so much- Another^s harrd should daira, Through all the yeai's, dear of the dears^ My love would be the same. For a' heart to change, an- eye to range,, Were never, never mine ; The plighted' vow I give thee now Is ever, ever thiree. Through weal and woe my love shall go^. But alwarv's follow thee, XTnwaVering still in good or ill, Tho-tigh all the world should flee. :\nSCTELLAXEOUS POEM.S. 13f "JDarts aimed at thee must first strike me, And I ee\i - ll see thy smiles through all the miles, They part not. though between : "^Vhen sluniber lies upon tliy eye?, The bri^hest ever see-y, Then dreatn-^ofinic, for shall I be 'Close by; thy cot serene. LONGING. l\£y heart is not at home to-day. If that home be my breast ; Ht leaves behind, when far away The sha