XXXV.

TO MISS MARTHA H.

MARTHA, thy maiden foot is still so light,
It leaves no legible trace on virgin snows,
And yet I ween that busily it goes

In duty's path from happy morn to night.
Thy dimpled cheek is gay, and softly bright
As the fixt beauty of the mossy rose;
Yet will it change its hue for other's woes,
And native red contend with piteous white.
Thou bear'st a name by Jesus known and loved,
And Jesus gently did the maid reprove

For too much haste to show her eager love.
But blest is she that may be so reproved.
Be Martha still in deed and good endeavour,
In faith like Mary, at His feet for ever.

XXXVI.

SECOND NUPTIALS.

THERE is no jealousy in realms above:
The spirit purified from earthly stain,
And knowing that its earthly loss was gain,
Transfers its property in earthly love
(Tho' love it was she does not yet reprove)
To her by Heaven appointed to sustain
The honour'd matron's part; to bear the pain,
The joy, the duty, all things that behove
A Christian wedded. She that dwells on high
May be a guardian angel to the wife
That her good husband chooses to supply
Her place, vacated in the noon of life;
With holy gladness may support the bride
Through happy cares to her by death denied.

XXXVII.

Nor in one clime we oped the infant eye
To the blank light of yet unmeaning day ;
Nor in one language timely taught to pray,
Did we lisp out the babies' liturgy.
But even then, we both alike did sing

Our joys and sorrows in the self-same way,
Instinct the same sweet native tune did play,
From laugh to smile, from sob to chasten'd sigh,
Our tutor❜d spirits were alike subdued.

What wonder, then, if, meeting in this isle,
We eke imperfect speech with sigh and smile,
The catholic speech of infancy renew’d.
True love is still a child, and then most true
When most it talks, and does as children do.

XXXVIII.

Two nations are there of one common stock ;
One in the heart of Europe fortified,

The other freshen'd by the daily tide
Shaping from age to age her bulwark rock.
Two faithful members of the holy flock,
In the most holy bond of love allied,
Unite the valour, worth, and selfless pride
Of two great kindreds, like a braided lock-
A braided lock, I've seen-so nicely braided,
With softest interchange of brown and gold,
Each into each so exquisitely shaded,

That they were ever twain could not be told.
E'en so for thee, sweet daughter of my friend,
May Albion and Allmain their virtues blend.

XXXIX.

RIGHT merry lass, thy overweening joy
Turns an old man into a merry boy.

One hour with thee pays off the long arrears,
The heavy debt of almost fifty years.
Oft have I view'd that lake so beautiful,
And felt its quiet power, benign, to lull
The inward being to a soft repose;
Patient, yet not forgetful of the woes
That are the heritage of mortal breath,
As if one note divided life and death.

But thou, sweet maid, with ready mirth dost fill
The wide survey of water, wood, and hill.

I feel a pulse of pleasure newly born,

And scarce believe that "man was made to mourn."