She only said, "The day is dreary, He cometh not," she said; She said, "I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!"
About a stone-cast from the wall, A sluice with blacken'd waters slept, And o'er it many, round and small, The cluster'd marishmosses crept. Hard by a poplar shook alway,
All silver green with gnarled bark, For leagues no other tree did dark The level waste, the rounding gray.
She only said, "My life is dreary, He cometh not," she said;
She said, "I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!"
And ever, when the moon was low, And the shrill winds were up an' away, In the white curtain, to and fro,
She saw the gusty shadow sway. But when the moon was very low,
And wild winds bound within their cell, The shadow of the poplar fell Upon her bed, across her brow.
She only said, "The night is dreary, He cometh not," she said; She said, "I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!"
All day, within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creak'd; The blue fly sung i' the pane; the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd, Or from the crevice peer'd about.
Old faces glimmer'd through the doors, Old footsteps trod the upper floors, Old voices called her from without. VOL. II.-Z
She only said, "My life is dreary, He cometh not," she said; She said, "I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!"
The sparrow's chirrup on the roof, The slow clock ticking, and the sound Which to the wooing wind aloof
The poplar made, did all confound Her sense; but most she loathed the hour When the thick moted sunbeam lay Athwart the chambers, and the day Down-sloped was westering in his bower. Then, said she, "I am very dreary, He will not come," she said; She wept, "I am aweary, aweary, Oh, God, that I were dead!"
TO JOSEPH ATKINSON, ESQ., FROM BERMUDA.
"THE daylight is gone; but, before we depart, One cup shall go round to the friend of my heart, To the kindest, the dearest-oh! judge by the tear That I shed while I name him, how kind and how dear!"
'Twas thus, by the shade of a calabash-tree, With a few who could feel and remember like me, The charm, that to sweeten my goblet I threw, Was a tear to the past and a blessing on you!
Oh! say, do you thus, in the luminous hour Of wine and of wit, when the heart is in flower, And shoots from the lip, under Bacchus's dew, In blossoms of thought ever springing and new!
Do you sometimes remember, and hallow the brim Of your cup with a sigh, as you crown it to him, Who is lonely and sad in these valleys so fair, And would pine in elysium if friends were not there. Last night, when we came from the calabash-tree, When my limbs were at rest and my spirit was free, The glow of the grape and the dreams of the day Put the magical springs of my fancy in play; And oh! such a vision as haunted me then, I could slumber for ages to witness again! The many I like, and the few I adore,
The friends who were dear and beloved before, But never till now so beloved and dear, At the call of my fancy surrounded me here! Soon, soon did the flattering spell of their smile To a paradise brighten the bless'd little isle ; Serenely the wave, as they look'd on it, flow'd, And warmer the rose, as they gather'd it, glow'd! Not the vallyes Heræan (though water'd by rills Of the pearliest flow, from those pastoral hills, Where the song of the shepherd, primæval and wild, Was taught to the nymphs by their mystical child) Could display such a bloom of delight, as was given By the magic of love to this miniature heaven!
Oh, magic of love! unembellish'd by you, Has the garden a blush or the herbage a hue? Or blooms there a prospect in nature or art, [heart? Like the vista that shines through the eye to the
Alas! that a vision so happy should fade! That, when morning around me in brilliancy play'd, The rose and the stream I had thought of at night Should still be before me, unfadingly bright;
While the friends, who had seem'd to hang over the
And to gather the roses, had fled with my dream!
But see, through the harbour, in floating array, The bark that must carry these pages away,
Impatiently flutters her wing to the wind, And will soon leave the bowers of Ariel behind! What billows, what gales is she fated to prove, Ere she sleep in the lee of the land that I love! Yet pleasant the swell of those billows would be, And the sound of those gales would be music to me! Not the tranquillest air that the winds ever blew, Not the silvery lapse of the summer-eve dew, Were as sweet as the breeze, or as bright as the foam Of the wave, that would carry your wanderer home!
LINES WRITTEN AT THE COHOES, OR FALLS OF THE MOHAWK RIVER.
"Gia era in loco ove s'udia 'l rimbombo Dell' acqua." * * *-Dante.
FROM rise of morn till set of sun, I've seen the mighty Mohawk run, And as I mark'd the woods of pine Along his mirror darkly shine, Like tall and gloomy forms that pass Before the wizard's midnight glass; And as I view'd the hurrying pace With which he ran his turbid race, Rushing, alike untired and wild,
Through shades that frown'd and flowers that
Flying by every green recess
That woo'd him to its calm caress,
Yet sometimes turning with the wind,
As if to leave one look behind!
Oh! I have thought, and, thinking, sigh'd, How like to thee, thou restless tide! May be the lot, the life of him, Who roams along thy water's brim! Through what alternate shades of wo. And flowers of joy my path may go!
How many a humble, still retreat, May rise to court my weary feet, While, still pursuing, still unbless'd, I wander on, nor dare to rest! But, urgent as the doom that calls Thy water to its destined falls, I see the world's bewildering force Hurry my heart's devoted course From lapse to lapse, till life be done, And the last current cease to run! Oh, may my falls be bright as thine! May Heaven's forgiving rainbow shine Upon the mist that circles me, As soft as now it hangs o'er thee!
A CANADIAN BOAT-SONG.
"Et remigem cantus hortatur."-Quintilian.
FAINTLY as tolls the evening chime, Our voices keep tune, and our oars keep time: Soon as the woods on shore look dim, We'll sing at St. Anne's our parting hymn; Row, brothers, row, the stream runs fast, The rapids are near, and the daylight's past!
Why should we yet our sail unfurl? There is not a breath the blue wave to curl! But when the wind blows off the shore, Oh! sweetly we'll rest our weary oar. Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast, The rapids are near, and the daylight's past! Utawas' tide! this trembling moon Shall see us float over thy surges soon: Saint of this green isle! hear our prayers, Oh! grant us cool heavens and favouring airs. Blow, breezes, blow, the stream runs fast, The rapids are near, and the daylight's past!
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