Upon his neck some wood-nymph lies,
Exhaling from her lip and eyes
The flame and incense of delight,
To sanctify a dearer rite,
A mystery more divinely warmed
Than priesthood ever yet performed !"
Happy the maid whom Heaven allows
To break for Heaven her virgin vows!
Happy the maid !-her robe of shame
Is whitened by a heavenly flame,
Whose glory, with a lingering trace,
Shines through and deifies her race!
O virgin! what a doom is thine!
To-night, to-night a lip divine
In every kiss shall stamp on thee
A seal of immortality!
Fly to the cave, Aphelia, fly;
There lose the world and wed the sky!
There all the boundless rapture steal
Which gods can give or woman feel!
AWAY, away-you're all the same,
A fluttering, smiling, jilting throng!
Oh! by my soul I burn with shame,
To think I've been your slave so long!
Slow to be warmed and quick to rove,
From folly kind, from cunning loth,
Too cold for bliss, too weak for love,
Yet feigning all that's best in both.
Still panting o'er a crowd to reign,
More joy it gives to woman's breast
To make ten frigid coxcombs vain
Than one true manly lover blest!
Away, away-your smile's a curse-
Oh! blot me from the race of men,
Kind, pitying Heaven! by death or worse,
Before I love such things again!
I KNEW, by the smoke that so gracefully curled
Above the green elms, that a cottage was near,
And I said, "If there's peace to be found in the world,
A heart that was humble might hope for it here!"
It was noon, and on flowers that languished around
In silence reposed the voluptuous bee;
Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound
But the woodpecker tapping the hollow beech-tree.
And "Here in this lone little wood," I exclaimed,
"With a maid who was lovely to soul and to eye,
Who would blush when I praised her, and weep if I blamed,
How blest could I live, and how calm could I die!
"By the shade of yon sumach, whose red berry dips
In the gush of the fountain, how sweet to recline,
And to know that I sighed upon innocent lips,
Which had never been sighed on by any but mine!"
COME, take the harp-'tis vain to muse
Upon the gathering ills we see ;
Oh! take the harp, and let me luse
All thoughts of ill in hearing thee!
Sing to me, love !-though death were near,
Thy song could make my soul forget-
Nay, nay, in pity dry that tear,
All may be well, be happy yet!
Let me but see that snowy arm
Once more upon the dear harp lie,
And I will cease to dream of harm,
Will smile at fate, while thou art nigh!
Give me that strain, of mournful touch,
We used to love long, long ago,
Before our hearts had known as much
As now, alas! they bleed to know!
Sweet notes! they tell of former peace,
Of all that looked so rapturous then,
Now withered, lost-oh! pray thee, cease,
I cannot bear those sounds again!
Art thou, too, wretched? yes, thou art;
I see thy tears flow fast with mine-
Come, come to this devoted heart,
'Tis breaking, but it still is thine!
A VISION OF PHILOSOPHY.
"TWAS on the Red Sea coast, at morn, we met The venerable man; a virgin bloom
Of softness mingled with the vigorous thought
That towered upon his brow; as when we see
The gentle moon and the full radiant sun
Shining in heaven together. When he spoke
'Twas language sweetened into song-such holy sounds
As oft the spirit of the good man hears,
Prelusive to the harmony of heaven,
When death is nigh! and still, as he unclosed
His sacred lips, an odour, all as bland
As ocean breezes gather from the flowers
That blossom in elysium, breathed around!
With silent awe we listened, while he told
Of the dark veil which many an age had hung
O'er Nature's form, till by the touch of time
The mystic shroud grew thin and luminous,
And half the goddess beamed in glimpses through it;
Of magic wonders that were known and taught
By him (or Cham or Zoroaster named)
Who mused, amid the mighty cataclysm,
O'er his rude tablets of primeval lore,
Nor let the living star of science sink
Beneath the waters which ingulphed the world!—
Of visions by Calliope revealed
To him who traced upon his typic lyre
The diapason of man's mingled frame,
And the grand Doric heptachord of heaven!
With all of pure, of wondrous and arcane,
Which the grave sons of Mochus, many a night,
Told to the young and bright-haired visitant
Of Carmel's sacred mount !-Then, in a flow
Of calmer converse, he beguiled us on
Through many a maze of garden and of porch,
Through many a system where the scattered light
Of heavenly truth lay, like a broken beam
From the pure sun, which, though refracted alı
Into a thousand hues, is sunshine still,
And bright through every change!-he spoke of
The lone, eternal One, who dwells above,
And of the soul's untraceable descent
From that high fount of spirit, through the grades
Of intellectual being, till it mix
With atoms vague, corruptible, and dark;
Nor even then, though sunk in earthly dross
Corrupted all, nor its ethereal touch
Quite lost, but tasting of the fountain still!
As some bright river, which has rolled along
Through meads of flowery light and mines of gold,
When poured at length into the dusky deep,
Disdains to mingle with its briny taint,
But keeps awhile the pure and golden ting,
The balmy freshness, of the fields it left!
And here the old man ceased-a wingèd train
Of nymphs and genii led him from our eyes.
The fair illusion fled and, as I waked,
I knew my visionary soul had been
Among that people of aëriai dreams
Who live upon the burning galaxy!
THE world had just begun to steal
Each hope that led me lightly on;
I felt not as I used to feel,
And life grew dark and love was gone!
No eye to mingle sorrow's tear,
No lip to mingle pleasure's breath,
No tongue to call me kind and dear-
'Twas gloomy, and I wished for death!
But when I saw that gentle eye,
Oh! something seemed to tell me then
That I was yet too young to die,
And hope and bliss might bloom again!
With every beamy smile that crossed
Your kindling cheek, you lighted home
Some feeling which my heart had lost,
And peace, which long had learned to roam !
'Twas then indeed so sweet to live,
Hope looked so new and Love so kind,
That, though I weep, I still forgive
The ruin which they've left behind!
I could have loved you-oh so well!-
The dream, that wishing boyhood knows,
Is but a bright beguiling spell,
Which only lives while passion glows:
But, when this early flush declines,
When the heart's vivid morning fleets,
You know not then how close it twines
Round the first kindred soul it meets!
Yes, yes, I could have loved, as one
Who, while his youth's enchantments fall,
Finds something dear to rest upon,
Which pays him for the loss of all!
IN slumber, I prithee, how is it
That souls are oft taking the air,
And paying each other a visit,
While bodies are- -Heaven knows where?
Last night, 'tis in vain to deny it,
Your Soul took a fancy to roam,
For I heard her, on tiptoe so quiet,
Come ask whether mine was at home.
And mine let her in with delight,
And they talked and they kissed the time through, For, when souls come together at night,
There is no knowing what they mayn't do!
And your little Soul, Heaven bless her!
Had much to complain and to say
Of how sadly you wrong and oppress her
By keeping her prisoned all day.
"If I happen," said she, "but to steal
For a peep now and then to her eye,
Or, to quiet the fever I feel,
Just venture abroad on a sigh ;
"In an instant she frightens me in
With some phantom of prudence or terror,
For fear I should stray into sin,
Or, what is still worse, into error !
"So, instead of displaying my graces
Through look and through words .nd through mien
I am shut up in corners and places
Where truly I blush to be seen!"
Upon hearing this piteous confession,
My Soul, looking tenderly at her,
Declared, as for grace and discretion,
He did not know much of the matter;
"But to-morrow, sweet Spirit!" he said,
"Be at home after midnight, and then
I will come when your lady's in bed,
And we'll talk o'er the subject again."
So she whispered a word in his ear.
I suppose to her door to direct him.
And just after midnight, my dear,
Your polite little Soul may expect him.
To see thee every day that came,
And find thee every day the same,
In pleasure's smile or sorrow's tear
The same benign, consoling Dear!
To meet thee early, leave thee late,
Has been so long my bliss, my fate,
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