BIRTH-DAY VERSES.

"The heart that we have lain near before our birth, is the only one that cannot forget that it has loved us."

-PHILIP SLINGSBY.

Y birth-day!-Oh beloved mother!
My heart is with thee o'er the seas.

I did not think to count another

Before I wept upon thy knees-
Before this scroll of absent years
Was blotted with thy streaming tears.

My own I do not care to check.

I weep-albeit here alone—

As if I hung upon thy neck,

As if thy lips were on my own, As if this full, sad heart of mine, Were beating closely upon thine.

Four weary years! How looks she now ?
What light is in those tender eyes?
What trace of time has touch'd the brow

Whose look is borrow'd of the skies

That listen to her nightly prayer?

How is she changed since he was there

Who sleeps upon her heart alway-
Whose name upon her lips is worn—
For whom the night seems made to pray—

For whom she wakes to pray at morn—
Whose sight is dim, whose heart-strings stir,
Who weeps these tears to think of her!

I know not if my mother's eyes

Would find me changed in slighter things; I've wander'd beneath many skies,

And tasted of some bitter springs;

And many leaves, once fair and gay,

From youth's full flower have dropp'd away—
But, as these looser leaves depart,

The lessen'd flower gets near the core,
And, when deserted quite, the heart
Takes closer what was dear of yore-

And yearns to those who loved it first-

[nursed.

The sunshine and the dew by which its bud was

Dear mother! dost thou love me yet?

Am I remember'd in my home?

When those I love for joy are met,

Does some one wish that I would come?

Thou dost-I am beloved of these!

But, as the schoolboy numbers o'er

Night after night the Pleiades

And finds the stars he found beforeAs turns the maiden oft her token

As counts the miser aye his gold—

So, till life's silver cord is broken,
Would I of thy fond love be told.

My beart is full, mine eyes are wet—

[vet?

Dear mother! dost thou love thy long-lost wanderer

Oh! when the hour to meet again

Creeps on--and, speeding o'er the sea,
My heart takes up its lengthen'd chain,
And link by link, draws nearer thee—
When land is hail'd, and, from the shore,
Comes off the blessed breath of home,
With fragrance from my mother's door

Of flowers forgotten when I come-
When port is gain'd, and, slowly now,
The old familiar paths are pass'd,
And, entering-unconscious how-
I gaze upon thy face at last,

And run to thee, all faint and weak,
And feel thy tears upon my cheek--

Oh! if my heart break not with joy,
The light of heaven will fairer seem;

And I shall grow once more a boy:
And, mother!--'twill be like a dream
That we were parted thus for years——
And once that we have dried our tears,
How will the days seem long and bright--
To meet thee always with the morn,

And hear thy blessing every night—

Thy "dearest," thy "first-born!

And be no more, as now, in a strange land, forlorn!

I

SATURDAY AFTERNOON.

[Written for a Picture.]

LOVE to look on a scene like this,
Of wild and careless play,

And persuade myself that I am not old,

And my locks are not yet gray;

For it stirs the blood in an old man's heart,

And makes his pulses fly,

To catch the thrill of a happy voice,
And the light of a pleasant eye.

I have walk'd the world for fourscore years; And they say that I am old,

That my heart is ripe for the reaper, Death, And my years are well-nigh told.

It is very true; it is very true;

I'm old, and "I 'bide my time: " But

my heart will leap at a scene like this, And I half renew my prime.

Play on, play on; I am with you there,
In the midst of your merry ring;
I can feel the thrill of the daring jump,
And the rush of the breathless swing

I hide with you in the fragrant hay,
And I whoop the smother'd call,

And my feet slip up on the seedy floor,
And I care not for the fall.

I am willing to die when my time shall come,
And I shall be glad to go;

For the world at best is a weary place,

And my pulse is getting low;

But the grave is dark, and the heart will fail
In treading its gloomy way;

And it wiles my heart from its dreariness,
To see the young so gay.