ELLA,

OR

LOVE'S SPELL.

"Weep for the love that cannot change;

Like some unholy spell,

It hangs upon the life that loved,
So vainly, and so well."

STRANGE I should have loved thee ever, Faithless, fickle as thou art;

Stranger still, false one, that never

Can I wrench thee from my heart.
Scorn, like shaft shot from its quiver
Which is dipped in fatal bane,
And doth send death's icy shiver
Through the heart and every vein;

Lone neglect, the stern decision

That thy presence bids me flee; Wrong, and hate, and cold derisionThese I all have borne from thee, Till my brow in youth's fresh hour

Is by clouds of grief o'ercast,

And I'm with'ring like the flower

O'er which sweeps the simoom's blast ; Yet, with every kind emotion

That can move the gentle breast,

With all woman's deep devotion,

Still my heart, (that can be blest But while incense o'er thee breathing, Whence it only solace finds,)

As the oak the ivy wreathing,

Every tendril round thee twines. Every thing thy impress beareth

Hath the hallowed spell of thee; Look or smile of thine endeareth

Meanest, vilest things to me:

Yet I loathe my soul that clingeth

Round the worthless thing thou art,

Curse the memory that bringeth

Oft I've sworn to dash the chalice

From my eager thirsting lips, Where my soul will seek its solace, Though it only wormwood sips:

I have tried to cease this pining,

Rouse my with'ring pride,—but vain,

By some skilful, deep designing,

Turn my love to cold disdain ;

But such efforts make thee dearer

To her whom Love's spell hath bound, Draw the fatal chord still nearer

Round the heart thy scorn doth wound.

THE LOVERS.

"Their grief was silent and unfathomable."

THEY met, and looked into each other's eyes;
In hers, as in a mirror clear, he saw

A paradise, and she in his beheld

A bright and sunny world, where her pure soul
Could only light, and life, and joyance find;

But th' serpent came between them; then,
Like thunder-riven rocks, apart they dwelt,

Silent, and cold, and withering, until

Their hearts were dead, and they went to the grave,

Their misery to each other unrevealed.

TO E.

THOU'RT gone from this cold world of ours,

A resident above;

An angel midst unfading bowers,

And songs of changeless love;

And com'st no more at eventide

To lay thy hand in mine,

With smiles to cheer our own fire-side,
And bid me not repine;

And yet, lost one, thou art to me
More than the living all can be—
A light that shines from heaven afər,
My morning and my evening star.

I ne'er shall hear again on earth

Thy footsteps' blithesome bound,

Nor meet thee by the parent hearth,

When there we kneel around;