HEBREW MELODIES.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY.

I.

SHE WALKS IN BEAUTY, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

II.

the less,

One shade the more, one ray

Had half impair'd the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

III.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,

A heart whose love is innocent!

THE HARP THE MONARCH MINSTREL

SWEPT.

I.

THE HARP THE MONARCH MINSTREL SWEPT,

The King of men, the loved of Heaven,

Which Music hallowed while she wept

O'er tones her heart of hearts had given,

Redoubled be her tears, its chords are riven!

It softened men of iron mould,

It gave them virtues not their own;

No ear so dull, no soul so cold,

That felt not, fired not to the tone,

Till David's Lyre grew mightier than his throne!

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II.

It told the triumphs of our King,

It wafted glory to our God;
It made our gladdened vallies ring,

The cedars bow, the mountains nod;

Its sound aspired to Heaven and there abode! Since then, though heard on earth no more, Devotion and her daughter Love

Still bid the bursting spirit soar

To sounds that seem as from above,

In dreams that day's broad light can not remove.

IF THAT HIGH WORLD.

I.

IF THAT HIGH WORLD, which lies beyond
Our own, surviving Love endears;
If there the cherish'd heart be fond,
The eye the same, except in tears-
How welcome those untrodden spheres!
How sweet this very hour to die!

To soar from earth and find all fears

Lost in thy light-Eternity!

II.

It must be so: 'tis not for self

That we so tremble on the brink; And striving to o'erleap the gulph,

Yet cling to Being's severing link.