And the rain comes sobbing Through the budding wood, While the low south wind sighs, but dare not be more rude..

Were your pure lips fashioned
Out of air and dew-
Starlight unimpassioned,
Dawn's most tender hue,
And scented by the woods that gath-
ered sweets for you?

Fairest and most lonely,
From the world apart;
Made for beauty only,
Veiled from Nature's heart
With such unconscious grace
makes the dream of Art!

Were not mortal sorrow
An immortal shade,

Then would I to-morrow

Such a flower be made,

I give thee love as God gives light,
Aside from merit, or from prayer,
Rejoicing in its own delight,
And freer than the lavish air.

I give thee prayers, like jewels strung On golden threads of hope and fear; And tenderer thoughts than ever hung

In a sad angel's pitying tear.

What care I for thy carelessness?
I give from depths that overflow,
Regardless that their power to bless

lost childhood played.

My pretty babe was playing. Aslant the sill a sunbeam lay: I laughed in careless pleasure, To see his little hand essay

To grasp the shining treasure.

To-day no shafts of golden flame
Across the sill are lying;
To-day I call my baby's name,

And hear no lisped replying;
To-day-ah, baby mine, to-day
God holds thee in his keeping!
And yet I weep, as one pale ray
Breaks in upon thy sleeping-
I weep to see its shining bands

Reach, with a fond endeavor, To where the little restless hands Are crossed in rest forever!

Than palace; and should fitting be
For all my use, no luxury.

My garden painted o'er With Nature's hand, not Art's; and pleasures yield,

Horace might envy in his Sabine field.

Thus would I double my life's fading space;

For he that runs it well twice runs his race.

And in this true delight, These unbought sports, this happy state,

I would not fear, nor wish, my fate;
But boldly say each night,
To-morrow let my sun his beams dis-
play,

Or in clouds hide them; I have lived to-day.

ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE.

MARK that swift arrow, how it cuts

the air,

But says to Fame, Thou art mine heir,—

That man extends life's natural brevity:

This is, this is the only way

To outlive Nestor in a day.

[From Reason.]

REASON AN AID TO REVELATION. THOUGH Reason cannot through Faith's mysteries see,

It sees that there and such there be, Leads to heaven's door, and then does humbly keep,

And then through chinks and keyholes peep. Though it, like Moses, by a sad command

Must not come into the Holy Land, Yet thither it infallibly does guide, And from afar 'tis all descried.

[From Friendship in Absence.]

SOUL.

every friend,

If distance could their union end: But love itself does far advance Above the power of time and space, It scorns such outward circumstance, His time's forever, everywhere, his place.

LIGHT SHINING OUT OF
DARKNESS.

GOD moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan His work in vain: God is His own interpreter. And He will make it plain.

And now in the grass behold they are laid,

And the tree is my seat that once lent me a shade!

The blackbird has fled to another retreat,

Where the hazels afford him a screen from the heat,

And the scene where his melody charmed me before Resounds with his sweet-flowing ditty no more.

My fugitive years are all hasting away,

And I must ere long lie as lowly as they,

With a turf on my breast, and a stone at my head,

Ere another such grove shall arise in its stead.

'Tis a sight to engage me, if any. thing can,

To muse on the perishing pleasures of man;

Though his life be a dream, his enjoyments, I see,

Have a being less durable even than he.