LIFE. OH Life, I breathe thee in the breeze, I see thee in these stretching trees, These flowers, this still rock's mossy stains. This stream of odor flowing by, From clover field and clumps of pine, This music, thrilling all the sky, From all the morning birds, are thine. Thou fill'st with joy this little one, That leaps and shouts beside me here, Where Isar's clay-white rivulets run Through the dark woods like frighted deer. Ah! must thy mighty breath, that wakes Pass, pulse by pulse, till o'er the ground Seem fading into night again? The things, oh LIFE! thou quickenest, all Strive upward towards the broad bright sky, Upward and outward, and they fall Back to earth's bosom when they die. VOL. II.-7 All that have borne the touch of death, All that shall live, lie mingled there, Beneath that veil of bloom and breath, That living zone 'twixt earth and air. There lies my chamber dark and still, Well, I have had my turn, have been Raised from the darkness of the clcd, And for a glorious moment seen The brightness of the skirts of God; And knew the light within my breast, Though wavering oftentimes and dim, The power, the will, that never rest, And cannot die, were all from him, Dear child! I know that thou wilt grieve To see me taken from thy love, Wilt seek my grave at Sabbath eve, Thy little heart will soon be healed, When we descend to dust again, Where will the final dwelling be "EARTH'S CHILDREN CLEAVE TO EARTH." EARTH'S children cleave to Earth-her frail Yon wreath of mist that leaves the vale, Look, how, by mountain rivulet, And clings to fern and copsewood set To precipices fringed with grass, |