But still they steal the record, Their mission-flight by day or night And as we spend each minute That God to us hath given, The deeds are known before His throne, These bee-like Hours we see not, So, teach me, Heavenly Father, So, when death brings its shadows, HENRY THEODORE TUCKERMAN. Born at Boston, Mass: 1813—died 1871. TO AN ELM. BRAVELY thy old arms fling Their countless pennons to the fields of air, Their panoply of green still proudly wear. As some rude tower of old, Thy massive trunk still rears its rugged form, With limbs of giant mould, To battle sternly with the winter storm. In Nature's mighty fane, Thou art the noblest arch beneath the sky; That with a benison have pass'd thee by! Lone patriarch of the wood! The locust knows thee well; And when the summer-days his notes prolong, Hid in some leafy cell, Pours from thy world of green his drowsy song. Oft, on a morn in spring, The yellow-bird will seek thy waving spray, To whet his beak, and pour his blithesome lay. How bursts thy monarch wail, When sleeps the pulse of Nature's buoyant life, And, bared to meet the gale, Wave thy old branches, eager for the strife! The sunset often weaves Upon thy crest a wreath of splendour rare, Sacred thy roof of green To rustic dance and childhood's gambols free! Gay youth and age serene Turn with familiar gladness unto thee. O, hither should we roam, Might Freedom's champion fitly draw his blade. With blessings at thy feet, Thy verdant, calm retreat Inspires the sad and soothes the troubled breast. When, at the twilight hour, Plays through thy tressil crown the sun's last gleam, Under thy ancient bower The schoolboy comes to sport, the bard to dream. And when the moonbeams fall Through thy broad canopy upon the grass, Making a fairy hall, As o'er the sward the flitting shadows pass, Then lovers haste to thee, With hearts that tremble like that shifting light, LUCY HOOPER. Born at Newburyport, Mass: 1816-died 1841. DEATH AND LIFE. Nor unto thee, oh! pale and radiant Death! Or from the bright urn of the future cast Aught, aught of joy on me: Yet unto thee, oh! monarch robed and crown'd, I bring no incense. Though the heart be chill, Shines not as once the wonted light of day, Shall all be duly paid; and though thy voice And woos one to that pillow of calm rest, I pay my vows. Though now to me thy brow But thou, oh Life! oh Life! the searching test Turn not from that dread test. But let me pay my vows to thee, oh Life! Released from earthly hope, or earthly fear. This, this, oh Life! be mine. Let others strive thy glowing wreaths to bind, Let others seek thy false and dazzling gleams,— For me their light went out on early streams, And faded were thy roses in my grasp, No more, no more to bloom. Yet as the stars, the holy stars of night, So would I, cheer'd by hopes more purely bright, EPES SARGENT.* Born at Gloucester, Mass: 1816— SUMMER IN THE HEART. THE cold blast at the casement beats, The snow whirls through the empty streets,- Sit down, old friend; the wine-cups wait In our hearts 'tis summer still! For we full many summer joys The rocks, the streams we dared! Yes! though, like sere leaves on the ground Our early hopes are strown, And cherish'd flowers lie dead around, And singing birds are flown,- Fill up the olden times come back The lost return. Through fields of bloom Gone is the winter's angry gloom: In our hearts 'tis summer still! *See Note 18. L |