FRIENDSHIP. THOUGH Wronged, not harsh my answer! Love is fond, Even pained, and rather to his injury bends, Warmed by no smile,- no mother's smile, that smile, Of all, best suited sorrow to beguile, And strengthen hope, and, by un marked degrees, Than chooses to make shipwreck Encourage to their birth high pur of his friends UNHAPPY CHILDHOOD. THAT season which all other men regret, And strive, with boyish longing, to recall, Which love permits not memory to forget, And fancy still restores in dreams of all That boyhood worshipped, or believed, or knew, Brings no sweet images to me,-was true, Only in cold and cloud, in lonely days And gloomy fancies,-in defrauded claims, Defeated hopes, denied, denying aims; Cheered by no promise,-lighted by no rays, poses. THIS tempest sweeps the Atlantic!Nevasink Is howling to the capes! Grim Hatteras cries Like thousand damnèd ghosts, that on the brink Lift their dark hands and threat the threatening skies; Surging through foam and tempest, old Román Hangs o'er the gulf, and, with his cavernous throat, Pours out the terrent of his wolfish note, ON the Sabbath-day, Through the church-yard old and gray, Over the crisp and yellow leaves I held my rustling way; And amid the words of mercy, falling on my soul like balms, 'Mid the gorgeous storms of music- in the mellow organ-calms, 'Mid the upward-streaming prayers, and the rich and solemn psalms, I stood careless, Barbara. My heart was otherwhere While the organ shook the air, And the priest, with outspread hands, blessed the people with a prayer But, when rising to go homeward, with a mild and saint-like shine Gleamed a face of airy beauty with its heavenly eyes on mineGleamed and vanished in a moment - Oh, that face was surely thine Out of heaven, Barbara! O pallid, pallid face! O earnest eyes of grace! When last I saw thee, dearest, it was in another place. You came running forth to meet me with my love-gift or your wrist; The flutter of a long white dress, then all was lost in mist A purple stain of agony was on the mouth I kissed, That wild morning, Barbara! I searched, in my despair, Sunny noon and midnight air; I could not drive away the thought that you were lingering there. Within the dripping church-yard, the rain plashing on your stone, 'Mong angels, do you think Of the precious golden link I clasped around your happy arm while sitting by yon brink? In the years I've changed; Wild and far my heart hath ranged, And many sins and errors now have been on me avenged; Still I love you, Barbara! Yet, love, I am unblest; With many doubts opprest, I wander like a desert wind, without a place of rest. In vain, in vain, in vain! You will never come again! There droops upon the dreary hills a mournful fringe of rain; GLASGOW. SING, poet, 'tis a merry world; City! I am true son of thine; That cottage smoke is rolled and Ne'er dwelt I where great mornings Black Labor draws his weary waves But, with the morning light, A sunbeam like an angel's sword Thus have I watched thee, Terror! While the blue night crept up the Which, night and morning, ebbs and The wild train plunges in the hills, flows. I dwelt within a gloomy court, Yet there my heart was stirred Spring lighted like a bird. Poor flowers! I watched them pine for weeks, With leaves as pale as human cheeks. Afar, one summer, I was borne; I sat, and watched an endless plain Oh, fair the lightly-sprinkled waste, Oh, fair the April shoots! Is dreaming round the roots! Draw thy fiercestreams of blinding ore, Lie empty to the stars. and When sunset bathes thee in his gold, In wreaths of bronze thy sides are rolled, Thy smoke is dusky fire; He shrieks across the midnight rills; And on the moorlands bare At midnight, when thy suburbs lie When larks with heat are mute, Disturbed but by my foot; While the black lazy stream beneath And through thy heart as through a Flows on that black disdainful All scornfully it flows, 'Tween lamps in streaming rows, O long, dark river of the dead! Afar, the banner of the year Athwart the noisy street. I know the happy Summer smiles 'Twere neither pæan now, nor dirge, On flat sands wide and bare; And, from the glory round thee Alike to me the desert flower, poured, The rainbow laughing o'er the shower While o'erthy walls the darkness sails, I lean against the churchyard rails; Up in the midnight towers The belfried spire, the street is dead, I hear in silence overhead The clang of iron hours: It moves me not- I know her tomb All raptures of this mortal breath, Dwell in thy noise alone: The beech is dipped in wine; the shower Is burnished; on the swinging flower The latest bee doth sit The low sun stares through dust of gold. And o'er the darkening heath and wold The large ghost-moth doth flit. In every orchard Autumn stands, With apples in his golden hands. But all these sights and sounds are strange; Then wherefore from thee should I range? Thou hast my kith and kin; My childhood, youth, and manhood brave; Thou hast that unforgotten grave Within thy central din. A sacredness of love and death Dwells in thy noise and smoky breath. CHARLOTTE SMITH. THE CRICKET. LITTLE inmate, full of mirth, Though in voice and shape they be Neither night nor dawn of day |