To cheer the hearts and light the eyes Yet be not thou one jot the less The reverence of a bended knee; Built strongly day by day And on the rock of Truth and Right VII. It is thy DUTY! Guard it well! For unto thee hath much been given, And thou canst make this life a Hell, Or Jacob's-ladder up to Heaven. Let not thy baptism in Life's wave Make thee like him whom Homer singsA sleeper in a living grave, Callous and hard to outward things; But open all thy soul and sense To every blessed influence That from the heart of Nature springs : Then shall thy Life-flowers be to thee, When thy best years are told, As much as these have been to meYea, more, a thousand-fold! THE LOVER. I. Go from the world from East to West, Though you should seek eternally. II. For I a gentle lover be, Sitting at my loved-one's side; She giveth her whole soul to me Without a wish or thought of pride, And she shall be my cherished bride. III. No show of gaudiness hath she, She doth not flash with jewels rare ; In beautiful simplicity She weareth leafy garlands fair, Or modest flowers in her hair. IV. Sometimes she dons a robe of green, Sometimes a robe of snowy white, But, in whatever garb she's seen, V. Not I her lover am alone, Reads love and truth within her eyes, VI. And so thou art, Eternal Nature ! TO E. W. G. "DEAR Child! dear happy Girl! if thou appear Heedless-untouched with awe or serious thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year; As through a strip of sunny light Thou gleamed'st a moment and wert gone; The pleasant thoughts thou left'st behind. Thou mad'st me happy with thine eyes, And happy with thine open smile, And, as I write, sweet memories Come thronging round me all the while; Around thy playful lips did glitter There was an archness in thine eyes, In days of boyhood, as they fell Tinkling far down the dim, still well; And with its sound come back once more The feelings of my early years, And half aloud I murmured o'er "Sure I have heard that sound before, It is so pleasant in mine ears." Whenever thou didst look on me I thought of merry birds, And something of spring's melody Came to me in thy words; Thy thoughts did dance and bound along I bound a larch-twig round with flowers, Which thou didst twine among thy hair, And gladsome were the few, short hours When I was with thee there; So now that thou art far away, I twine this simple wreath of rhyme. Dost mind how she, whom thou dost love More than in light words may be said. A coronal of amaranth wove About thy duly-sobered head, Which kept itself a moment still That she might have her gentle will? O keep forevermore, And as thou art, still strive to be, That on the farther shore Of time's dark waters ye may meet, |