DAY, IN MELTING PURPLE DYING Day, in melting purple dying ; Ye but waken my distress; Thou, to whom I love to hearken, Veil, if ill, thy soul's intent, Save thy toiling, spare thy treasure ; Gifts and gold are naught to me, I would only look on thee! Yet but torture, if comprest Absent still! Ah! come and bless me! In a look if death there be, MARIA BROOKS BY THE ALMA RIVER. Willie, fold your little hands; Let it drop, — that “soldier" toy ; Look where father's picture stands, Father, that here kissed his boy By the Alma River !” Ask no more, child. Never heed Either Russ, or Frank, or Turk; Right of nations, trampled creed, Chance-poised victory's bloody work ; Any flag i' the wind may roll On thy heights, Sevastopol ! Rest, and be glad of the gods ; but I, How shall I praise them, or how take rest ? For me that know not of worst or best, As love came close to you, breast to breast. I shall never be friends again with roses ; strong As a wave of the sea turned back by song. There are sounds where the soul's delight takes fire, Face to face with its own desire ; A delight that rebels, a desire that reposes ; I shall hate sweet music my whole life long. The pulse of war and passion of wonder, shine, 'The stars that sing and the loves that thunder, The music burning at heart like wine, These things are over, and no more mine. These were a part of the playing I heard Once, ere my love and my heart were at strife ; Love that sings and hath wings as a bird, Balm of the wound and heft of the knife. The wine and leaven of lovely life. I shall go my ways, tread out my measure, Fill the days of my daily breath Do as the world doth, say as it saith ; To feel you tread it to dust and death Ah, had I not taken my life up and given All that life gives and the years let go, The wine and money, the balm and leaven, The dreams reared high and the hopes brought low, Come life, come death, not a word be said ; Should I lose you living, and vex you dead ? I shall never tell you on earth ; and in heaven, If I cry to you then, will you hear or know? ALGERNON OHARLES SWINBU'RNE. Where he stands me How shall I watch for thee, when fears grow Willie, all to you and me stronger, Is that spot, whate'er it be, no other word As night grows dark and darker on the hill ! Stands — God sure the child's prayers heard – How shall I weep, when I can watch no longer ! Near the Alma River. Ah ! art thou absent, art thou absent still? Willie, listen to the bells Yet I should grieve not, though the eye that seeth Ringing in the town to-day; That's for victory. No knell swells ANONYMOUS. Gazeth through tears that makeits splendor dull; For the many swept away, For oh! I sometimes fear when thou art with me, Hundreds, thousands. Let us weep, My cup of happiness is all too full. We, who need not, -just to keep Haste, haste thee home to thy mountain dwelling, Reason clear in thought and brain Haste, as a bird unto its peaceful nest ! Haste, as a skiff, through tempests wide and swelling, Who they were that fought and — fell Flies to its haven of securest rest ! Poor the bed is, - poor and hard ; ABSENCE. Sleeps upon the open sward, What shall I do with all the days and hours Dreaming of us two at home; That must be counted ere I see thy face? Or, beneath the starry dome, How shall I charm the interval that lowers Digs out trenches in the dark, Between this time and that sweet time of grace? Where he buries – Willie, mark ! Where he buries those who died Shall I in slumber steep each weary sense, Weary with longing ? Shall I flee away Into past days, and with some fond pretence Willie, Willie, go to sleep ; Cheat myself to forget the present day? God will help us, O my boy ! Shall love for thee lay on my soul the sin He will make the dull hours creep Of casting from me God's great gift of time ? Faster, and send news of joy ; Shall I, these mists of memory locked within, When I need not shrink to meet Leave and forget life's purposes sublime ? Those great placards in the street, That for weeks will ghastly stare O, how or by what means may I contrive chill, say that prayer To bring the hour that brings thee back more - a different one, near ? Say, “0 God! Thy will be done How may I teach my drooping hope to live By the Alma River." Until that blessed time, and thou art here? I'll tell thee ; for thy sake I will lay hold Of all good aims, and consecrate to thee, In worthy deeds, each moment that is told HER HUSBAND. While thou, beloved one! art far from me. LINGER not long. Home is not home without thee: For thee I will arouse my thoughts to try Its dearest tokens do but make me mourn. 0, let its memory, like a chain about thee, All heavenward flights, all high and holy strains; Gently compel and hasten thy return ! For thy dear sake I will walk patiently Linger not long. Though crowds should woo thy Through these long hours, nor call their min utes pains. staying, Bethink thee, can the mirth of thy friends, I will this dreary blank of absence make A noble task-time ; and will therein strive To follow excellence, and to o'ertake More good than I have won since yet I live. In some eyes Once again, 3 DINAH MARIA MULOCK. THE WIFE TO though dear, Costs the fond heart that sighs to have thee here? As evening shadows stretch o'er moor and dell; So may my love and longing hallowed be, And thy dear thought an influence divine. FRANCES ANNS KEMBLE But, saving a croun, he had naething else beside. sea ; For aught that ever I could read, Behold ! SHAKESPEARE. Auld Rob maintained them baith, and, wi' tears in his ee, Said, “Jenny, for their sakes, O marry me!” THE BANKS O'DOON. My heart it said nay, for I looked for Jamie back ; Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon, But the wind it blew high, and the ship it was a How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair ? wrack ; How can ye chant, ye little birds, The ship it was a wrack! Why didna Jamie And I sae weary, fu' o' care ? dee? Thou 'lt break my heart, thou warbling bird, Or why do I live to say, Wae's me? That wantons through the flowering thorn ; Thou minds me o' departed joys, My father argued sair, my mother didna speak, Departed never to return. But she lookit in my face till my heart was like to break; Aft hae I roved by bonnie Doon, Sae they gied him my hand, though my heart To see the rose and woodbine twine; was in the sea ; And ilka bird sang o' its luve, And auld Robin Gray was gudeman to me. I hadna been a wife, a week but only four, When, sitting sae mournfully at the door, I saw my Jamie's wraith, for I cou'dna think it he, But ah! he left the thorn wi' me. Till he said, “I'm come back for to marry thee!” ( sair, sair did we greet, and muckle did we say ; We took but ae kiss, and we tore ourselves away : I wish I were dead, but I'm no like to dee; AULD ROBIN GRAY. And why do I live to say, Wae's me? When the sheep are in the fauld, and the kye at I gang like a ghaist, and I carena to spin ; hame, I daurna think on Jamie, for that wad be a sin; And a' the warld to sleep are gane ; But I'll do my best a gude wife to be, The waes o' my heart fa' in showers frae my ee, For auld Robin Gray is kind unto me. When my gudeman lies sound by me. ROBERT BURNS. LADY ANNE BARNARD men: ransom Dane : AULD ROB MORRIS. Beside the sceptre. Thus I made my home In the soft palace of a fairy Future ! There's auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen, My father died; and I, the peasant-born, He's the king o' guid fellows and wale of auld | Was my own lord. Then did I seek to rise Out of the prison of my mean estate ; He has gowd in his coffers, he has owsen and kine, And, with such jewels as the exploring mind And ae bonnie lassie, his darling and mine. Brings from the caves of Knowledge, buy my She's fresh as the morning, the fairest in May; From those twin jailers of the daring heart, She's sweet as the ev’ning amang the new hay; Low birth and iron fortune. Thy bright image, As blythe and as artless as the lambs on the lea, Glassed in my soul, took all the hues of glory, And dear to my heart as the light to my e'e. And lured me on to those inspiring toils But 0, she's an heiress, auld Robin 's a laird, By which man masters men! For thee, I grew And my daddie has naught but a cot-house and A midnight student o'er the dreams of sages ! yard; For thee, I sought to borrow from each Grace A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed, And every Muse such attributes as lend The wounds I must hide that will soon be my And passion taught me poesy, Ideal charms to Love. I thought of thee, - of thee, dead. And on the painter's canvas grew the life The day comes to me, but delight brings me of beauty! - Art became the shadow Of the dear starlight of thy haunting eyes ! The night comes to me, but my rest it is gane ; Men called me vain, some, mad, — I heeded I wander my lane like a night-troubled ghaist, not ; for it was sweet, And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast. But still toiled on, hoped on, If not to win, to feel more worthy, thee ! 0, had she but been of a lower degree, I then might hae hoped she wad smiled upon At last, in one mad hour, I dared to pour me ! The thoughts that burst their channels into song, 'O, how past describing had then been my bliss, And sent them to thee, such a tribute, lady, As now my distraction no words can express ! As beauty rarely scorns, even from the meanest. The name - appended by the burning heart It had created yea, the enthusiast's name, CLAUDE MELNOTTE'S APOLOGY AND That should have been thy triumph, was thy DEFENCE. scorn! That very hour — when passion, turned to wrath, PAULINE, by pride Resembled hatred most ; when thy disdain Angels have fallen ere thy time; by pride, — Made my whole soul a chaos — in that hour That sole alloy of thy most lovely mould The tempters found me a revengeful tool The evil spirit of a bitter love For their revenge! Thou hadst trampled on the And a revengeful heart, had power upon thee. worm, LEFT BEHIND. The strawberry-leaves were red and sear; When, pausing on the windy hill, I thought of tales that by the winter hearth The hill that overlooks the sea, Old gossips tell, - how maidens sprung from You talked confidingly to me, kings Me whom your keen, artistic sight Have stooped from their high sphere; how Love, Has not yet learned to read aright, like Death, Since I have veiled my heart from you, Levels all ranks, and lays the shepherd's crook And loved you better than you knew. ROBERT BURNS. LORD EDWARD BULWER LYTTON. You told me of your toilsome past; You did not see the bitter trace You walk the sunny side of fate; "How sweetly,” said the trembling maid, Were wafted off to seas unknown, And we might live, love, die alone ! Far from the cruel and the cold, Where the bright eyes of angels only Should come around us, to behold A paradise so pure and lonely ! Would this be world enough for thee?' Playful she turned, that he might see The passing smile her cheek put on; But when she marked how mournfully His eyes met hers, that smile was gone ; And, bursting into heartfelt tears, Yes, yes,” she cried, “my hourly fears, My dreams, have boded all too right, We part — forever part — to-night! I knew, I knew it could not last, ’T was bright, 't was heavenly, but 'tis past : O, ever thus, from childhood's hour, I've seen my fondest hopes decay ; I never loved a tree or flower But 't was the first to fade away. I never nursed a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well, And love me, it was sure to die ! Of all I ever dreamt or knew, O misery! must I lose that too? Your life's proud aim, your art's high truth, which now THOMAS MOORE. |