SAY, THOU BEST AND BRIGHTEST. O SAY, thou best and brightest, My first love and my last, When he, whom now thou slightest, From life's dark scene hath past, For him who liv'd to love thee, If, when that hour recalling And say, "This heart, when living, SHOULD those fond hopes e'er forsake thee, From all thy visions of youth and joy; Should the gay friends, for whom thou wouldst banish Him who once thought thy young heart his own, All, like spring birds, falsely vanish, And leave thy winter unheeded and lone; Oh! 'tis then that he thou hast slighted Would come to cheer thee, when all seer'd o'er: Then the truant, lost and blighted, Would to his bosom be taken once more: Like that dear bird we both can remember, Who left us while summer shone round, But, when chill'd by bleak December, On our threshold a welcome still found. PEACE TO THE SLUMB'RERS! (CATALONIAN AIR.) PEACE to the slumb'rers! They lie on the battle-plain, Are all that weep over them. Vain was their brav'ry!— The fallen oak lies where it lay Across the wintry river; But brave hearts, once swept away, Are gone, alas! for ever. Vain was their brav'ry! Woe to the conq'ror! Our limbs shall lie as cold as theirs Of whom his sword bereft us, Ere we forget the deep arrears FLOW on, thou shining river; But if, in wand'ring thither, Thou find'st she mocks my prayer, Then leave those wreaths to wither Upon the cold bank there; And tell her thus, when youth is o'er, WHEN night brings the hour Of starlight and joy, A fairy-wing'd boy; So full of wild arts, To tangle young hearts; Love's secret may dwell, Like Zephyr asleep iv. Some rosy sea-shell. Guess who he is, Name but his name, And his best kiss, For reward, you may claim. Where'er o'er the ground He prints his light feet, Most shining and sweet: As lightning in May, Though dangerous oft, Ne'er wound but in play: And oh, when his wings Have brush'd o'er my lyre, You'd fancy its strings Were turning to fire. Guess who he is, Name but his name, And his best kiss, For reward, you may claim. PEACE BE AROUND THEE. (SCOTCH AIR.) PEACE be around thee, wherever thou rov'st; If sorrow 'er this calm should break, May Time, who sheds his blight o'er all, They shall not crush one flower beneath. As half in shade and half in sun This world along its path advances, May that side the sun's upon Be all that e'er shall meet thy glances! A TEMPLE TO FRIENDSHIP. (SPANISH AIR.) "A TEMPLE to Friendship," said Laura, enchanted, |