When seven long lonely months were gone,
The Mermaid to his cavern came,
No more mishappen from the zone,
But like a maid of mortal frame.

"O give to me that ruby ring,
That on thy finger glances gay,
And thou shalt hear the Mermaid sing
The song, thou lov'st, of Colonsay."

"This ruby ring, of crimson grain,
Shall on thy finger glitter gay,
If thou wilt bear me through the main,
Again to visit Colonsay."-

"Except thou quit thy former love,
Content to dwell for aye with me.
Thy scorn my finny frame might move
To tear thy limbs amid the sea."-

"Then bear me swift along the main,
The lonely isle again to see,
And when I here return again,

I plight my faith to dwell with thee."

An oozy film her limbs o'erspread,
While slow unfolds her scaly train,
With gluey fangs her hands were clad,
She lash'd with webbéd fin the main.

He grasps the Mermaid's scaly sides,
As with broad fin she oars her way;
Beneath the silent moon she glides,

That sweetly sleeps on Colonsay.

Proud swells her heart! she deems, at last,
To lure him with her silver tongue,
And, as the shelving rocks she past,
She raised her voice and sweetly sung.

In softer, sweeter strains she sung,

Slow gliding o'er the moonlight bay, When light to land the chieftain sprung, To hail the maid of Colonsay.

O sad the Mermaid's gay notes fell,
And sadly sink remote at sea!
So sadly mourns the writhed shell
Of Jura's shore its parent sea.

And ever as the year returns,

The charm-bound sailors know the day;

For sadly still the Mermaid mourns

The lovely chief of Colonsay.

ODE TO THE EVENING STAR.

How sweet thy modest light to view,

Fair Star, to love and lovers dear!
While trembling on the falling dew,
Like beauty shining through a tear.

Or, hanging o'er that mirror-stream,

To mark that image trembling there,
Thou seem'st to smile with softer gleam,
To see thy lovely face so fair.

Though, blazing o'er the arch of night,
The moon thy timid beams outshine,
As far as thine each starry light;-
Her rays can never vie with thine.

Thine are the soft enchanting hours,
When twilight lingers on the plain,
And whispers to the closing flowers
That soon the sun will rise again.

Thine is the breeze that, murmuring bland
As music, wafts the lover's sigh,

And bids the yielding heart expand
In love's delicious ecstasy.

Fair Star! though I be doom'd to prove
That rapture's tears are mix'd with pain,

Ah, still I feel 'tis sweet to love!

But sweeter to be lov'd again.

ODE TO AU ĮNDIAN GOLD COIN.

SLAVE of the dark and dirty mine!

What vanity has brought thee here?
How can I love to see thee shine

So bright, whom I have bought so dear?
The tent-ropes flapping lone I hear,

For twilight converse arm in arm;

The jackal's shriek bursts on my ear, When mirth and music wont to cheer.

By Cherical's dark wandering streams,
Where cane-tufts shadow all the wild,
Sweet visions haunt my waking dreams

Of Teviot loved while still a child;

Of castled rocks stupendous piled

By Esk or Eden's classic wave,

Where loves of youth and friendship smiled Uncursed by thee, vile yellow slave!

Fade, day-dreams sweet, from memory fade! The perished bliss of youth's first prime, That once so bright on fancy played,

Revives no more in after time.

Far from my sacred natal clime

I haste to an untimely grave;

The daring thoughts that soared sublime

Are sunk in ocean's southern wave.

Slave of the mine, thy yellow light
Gleams baleful as the tomb-fire drear.

A gentle vision comes by night
My lonely widowed heart to cheer.
Her eyes are dim with many a tear,
That once were guiding-stars to mine;

Her fond heart throbs with many a fear!

I cannot bear to see thee shine.

For thee, for thee, vile yellow slave,

I left a heart that loved me true!

I crossed the tedious ocean wave,

To roam in climes unkind and new.