By day its voice is low and light; And seems to say, at each chamber door,"For ever-never! Never-for ever!" Through days of sorrow and of mirth, Of changeful time, unchanged it has stood, Never-for ever!" In that mansion used to be His great fires up the chimney roared; The stranger feasted at his board; Never-for ever!" There groups of merry children played; Even as a miser counts his gold, Those hours the ancient timepiece told,"For ever-never! Never-for ever!” From that chamber, clothed in white, The dead lay in his shroud of snow; Was heard the old clock on the stair,— Never-for ever!" All are scattered now and fled; Never-for ever!" Never here, for ever there, Where all parting, pain, and care, "For ever-never! Never-for ever!' " The Rainy Day. THE day is cold, and dark, and dreary, It rains, and the wind is never weary ; My life is cold, and dark, and dreary; My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past, Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Some days must be dark and dreary. The Lighthouse. HE rocky ledge runs far into the sea, And on its outer point, some miles away, The Lighthouse lifts its massive masonry:— A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day. Even at this distance I can see the tides, Upheaving, break unheard along its base ;A speechless wrath, that rises and subsides In the white lip and tremor of the face. And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright, Through the deep purple of the twilight air, Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light, With strange, unearthly splendour in its glare! Not one alone ;-from each projecting cape And perilous reef along the ocean's verge, Starts into life a dim, gigantic shape, Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge. Like the great giant Christopher it stands Upon the brink of the tempestuous wave, Wading far out among the rocks and sands, · The night-o'ertaken mariner to save. And the great ships sail outward and return, Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells, And ever joyful, as they see it burn, They wave their silent welcomes and farewells. They come forth from the darkness, and their sails Gleam for a moment only in the blaze; And eager faces, as the light unveils, Gaze at the tower, and vanish while they gaze. The mariner remembers when a child, On his first voyage, he saw it fade and sink; And, when returning from adventures wild, He saw it rise again o'er ocean's brink. Steadfast, serene, immovable, the same It sees the ocean to its bosom clasp The rocks and sea-sand with the kiss of peace;It sees the wild winds lift it in their grasp, And hold it up, and shake it like a fleece. The startled waves leap over it; the storm Press the great shoulders of the hurricane. The sea-bird wheeling round it, with the din "Sail on!" it says, "sail on, ye stately ships; * PROMETHEUS.~Fabled History says that Prometheus was chained to a rock on Mount Caucasus, by order of Jupiter, because he had stolen fire from the Sun wherewith to animate a beautiful figure of clay which he had made. An eagle or vulture was sent to prey on his liver. He was eventually delivered by Hercules, who killed the eagle. |