GOD AND HEAVEN. Bowring. THE silver cord in twain is snapped, The tomb is built, or the rock is cleft, The tears are shed that mourned the dead, O what is left-but Heaven? THE LAST TREE OF THE FOREST. Bemans. WHISPER, thou tree, thou lonely tree, One where a thousand stood; Well might proud tales be told of thee, Dwells there no voice amidst thy boughs, 'I've seen the forest shadows lie With the glance of many a gallant spear, 'I have seen the knight and his train ride past, With his banner borne on high; O'er all my leaves there was brightness cast From his gleaming panoply. 'The pilgrim at my feet hath laid, And the merry men of wild and glen, Have feasted here, with the red wine's cheer, 'And the minstrel, resting in my shade, Hath made the forest ring With the lordly tales of the high crusade, 'But now the noble forms are gone; 'There is no glory left us now Oh! thou dark tree, thou lonely tree, A lovely and a mirthful sound The poor man's children sport around, And the village bells are on the breeze How can I mourn, 'midst things like these, RESIGNATION. Longfellow. THERE is no flock, however watched and tended, The air is full of farewells to the dying, The heart of Rachel, for her children crying, Let us be patient! these severe afflictions But oftentimes celestial benedictions We see but dimly through the mists and vapors What seem to us but dim funereal tapers THERE IS NO DEATH; what seems so, is transition, Is but a suburb of the life Elysian, She is not dead-the child of our affection- Where she no longer needs our poor protection, And Christ himself doth rule. In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, By guardian angels led, Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, Day after day, we think what she is doing Year after year her tender steps pursuing, And though at times, impetuous with emotion, The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean That cannot be at rest, We will be patient! and assuage the feeling By silence sanctifying, not concealing, THE FALLING LEAF. Bemans. As the light leaf whose fall to ruin bears |