But a stern moral may be read, By those who view thy lonely gloom : O'er slave, and lordly tomb. The sad, the gay, the old, and young, The warrior's strength, and beauty's glow, Resolved to that from which they sprung, Compose the dust below ANONYMOUS. THE FLOWER SPIRIT. I AM the spirit that dwells in the flower; When silence and moonlight reign over each bower, To leap in the sunshine, and warble its strain, There dwells no sorrow where I am abiding; They pause, and we glow in their rugged embraces, They drink our warm breath, rich with odor and song, Then hurry away to their desolate places, And look for us hourly, and think of us long. Who of the dull earth that's moving around us, A prisoner until the first bud should unclose; Our winglets of silk we unfold to the air, And leap off in joy to the music that won us, GEEHALE. AN INDIAN LAMENT. THE blackbird is singing on Michigan's shore, For he knows to his mate he, at pleasure, can hie, The sun looks as ruddy, and rises as bright, As it ever reflected, or ever expressed, When my skies were the bluest, my dreams were the best. The fox and the panther, both beasts of the night, And they spring with a free and a sorrowless track, For they know that their mates are expecting them back. Each bird, and each beast, it is blessed in degree : All nature is cheerful, all happy, but me. I will go to my tent, and lie down in despair; I will paint me with black, and will sever my hair; This snake-skin, that once I so sacredly wore, Its spirit hath left me, its spell is now broke. I will raise up my voice to the source of the light; O, then I shall banish these cankering sighs, I will dig up my hatchet, and bend my oak bow; By night and by day I will follow the foe; Nor lakes shall impede me, nor mountains, nor snows ;His blood can, alone, give my spirit repose. They came to my cabin when heaven was black: But I saw, by the light of their blazing fusees, THE BRIDE. IT hath passed, my daughter; fare thee well! Love beams from brighter eyes than mine, When other hands thy tresses weave, And other lips are pressed to thine,— O, then remember her who grieves Is like some desert, lone and wild, Where erst one timid wild bird sung; No bird nor flower its shades among. And when thy children climb the knee, O, then the thought of her recall Thou leavest broken-hearted here; |