Were not those sweets', so humbly shed'—
That hair-those weeping eyes'-
And the sunk heart that inly bled',
Heaven's noblest sacrifice'?b
Thou that hast slept in errour's sleep',
Oh'! wouldst thou wake in heaven',
Like Mary'.. kneel', like Mary'.. weep',
"Love much""...and be forgiven'.
There's nothing true but Heaven.—MOORE.
THIS world is all a fleeting show',
For man's illusion given';
The smiles of joy', the tears of wo',
Deceitful shine', deceitful flow'—
There's nothing true'.. but Heaven'.
And false the light on glory's plume',
As fading hues of even';
And love', and hope', and beauty's bloom',
Are blossoms gathered for the tomb'-
There's nothing bright'.. but Heaven'.
Poor wanderers of a stormy day',
From wave to wave we 're driven';
And fancy's flash', and reason's ray',
Serve but to light the troubled way'-
There's nothing calm but Heaven'.
Secret Devotion.—IB.
As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean, Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see, So, deep in my soul, the still prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee, My God, silent to thee:
Pure, warm, silent to Thee
So, deep in my soul, the still prayer of devotion,
Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee.
As still to the star of its worship, though clouded,
The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea,
So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded,
The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee,
My God, trembling to Thee;
True, fond, trembling to Thee
So, dark as I roam, in this wintry world shrouded, The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee.
Wêr. Sák'ré-fize. Sl'lènt-not, sl'lunt.
The Soul in Eternity.-BYRON.
WHEN coldness wraps this suffering clay',
Ah', whither strays the immortal mînd'?
It cannot die', it cannot stây',
But leaves its darkened dust behind'.
Then', unembodied', dotha it trace'
By steps each planet's heavenly way'?
Or fill', at once', the realms of space';
A thing of eyes that all survey'?
Eternal', boundless', undecayed',
A thought unseen', but seeing all',
All', all in earth or skies displayed'
Shall it survey', shall it recall':
Each fainter trace that memory holds'
So darkly of departed years',
In one broad glance the soul beholds',
And all that was', at once appears'.
Before creation peopled earth',
Its eyes shall roll through chaos back';
And', where the farthest heaven had birth',
The spirit trace its rising track'.
And', where the future' . . mars or makes',
Its glance dilate o'er all to be',
While sun.. is quenched', or system'.. breaks',
Fixed'... in its own eternity'.
Above or love', hope', hate', or fear',
It lives all passionless and pure':
An age shall fleet like earthly year';
Its years as moments shall endure'.
Away', away', without a wing',
O'er all', through all', its thought shall fly';
A nameless and eternal thing',
Forgetting what it was to die'.
Henry the Fourth's Soliloquy on Sleep.-SHAKSPEARE.
How many thousands of myd poorest subjects
Are', at this hour', asleep! O', gentle sleep"!
Nature'se soft nurse': how have I frighted thee',
That thou no more wilt weigh myd eyelids down',
And steep my senses in forgetfulness'?
Why rather', sleep', liest thou in smoky CRIBS',
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee',
aDuth. Sis'têm, Mo'ments. Mě. Nå'tshårz.
And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber',
Than in the perfumed chambers of the GREAT',
Under the canopies of costly state',
And lulled with sounds of sweetest melody'?
O', thou dull god!! Why liest thou with the vile',
In loathsome beds', and leav'st the kingly couch',
A watch-case', or a common 'larum-bell'?
Wilt thou', upon the high and giddy mast',
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes', and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude', imperious surge',
And in the visitation of the winds
Which take the ruffian billows by the top',
Curling their monstrous heads', and hanging them
With deaf'ningb clamours in the slipp'ry clouds',
That', with the hurly* death itself awakes'-
Canst thou', O', partial sleep'! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude',
And', in the calmest and the stillest night',
With all appliances and means to BOOT',
Deny it to a KING? Then happy', low lie down"!
UNEASY lies the head that wears a crown'.
Apostrophe to Light.-MILTON.
HAIL! holy Light, offspring of Heaven first born,
Or of the eternal co-eternal beam,
May I express thee unblamed? Since God is light,
And never but in unapproached light
Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,
Bright effluence of bright essences increate,
Or hear'st thou, rather, pure ethereal stream,
Whose fountain who shall tell? Before the sun,
Before the heavens, thou wert, and at the voice
Of God, as with a mantle, didst invest
The rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from the void and formless infinite.
Thee I revisit now with bolder wing,
Escaped the Stygian pool, though long detained
In that obscure sojourn, while in my flight,
Through utter and through middle darkness borne,
With other notes than to the Orphean lyre
I sung of chaos and eternal night.
Taught by the heavenly muse to venture down
The dark descent, and up to reascend,
Though hard and rare; Thee I revisit safe,
And feel thy sovereign, vital lamp; but thou
Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain,
*Noise. *Tshame'bůrz. 'Dèf'fn'ing. Es'sense-not ès'sunse.
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn;
So thick a drop serene hath quenched their orbs,
Or dim suffusion veiled. Yet not the more
Cease I to wander where the muses haunt,
Clear spring or shady grove, or sunny hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flowery brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallowed feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit: nor sometimes forget
Those other two, equalled with me in fate,
So were I equalled with them in renown,
Blind Thamyris and blind Mæonides,
And Tyresias and Phineas, prophets old:
Then feed on thoughts that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers; as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling, and in shadiest covert hid,
Tunes her nocturnal note. Thus with the year,
Seasons return, but not to me returns..
Day, or the sweet approach of even and morn;
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine;
But cloud, instead, and ever-during dark
Surrounds me, from the cheerful ways of men
Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair,
Presented with a universal blank
Of nature's works, to me expunged and razed,
And wisdom, at one entrance, quite shut out.
So much the rather thou, celestial Light,
Shine inward, and the mind through all her powers
Irradiate: there plant eyes, all mist from thence
Purge and disperse, that I may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight.
I HAD a dream', which was not all a dream'.
The bright sun was extinguished', and the stars
Did wander', darkling in the eternal space',
Rayless' and pathless', and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air'.
Morn came', and went', and came', and brought no day',
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation'; and all hearts
Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light'.
And they did live by watchfires'; and the thrones'
The palaces of crowned kings'-—the huts',
The habitations of all things which dwell',
Were burned for beacons'. Cities were consumed',
And men were gathered round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face.
Happy were they who dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanoes and their mountain torch'.
A fearful hope was all the world contained';
Forests were set on fire'; and hour by hour
They fell and faded'-and the crackling trunks
Extinguished with a crash,—and all was black'.
The brows of men', by the despairing light',
Wore an unearthly aspect', as by fits
The wild birds shrieked',
The flashes fell upon them'. Some lay down',
And hid their eyes', and wept'; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands', and smiled';
And others hurried to and fro', and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel', and looked up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky',
The pall of a past world'; and then again'
With curses cast them down upon the dust',
And gnashed their teeth', and howled'.
And', terrified', did flutter on the ground',
And flap their useless wings'; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous'; and vipers crawled
And twined themselves among the multitude',
Hissing', but stingless'. They were slain for food':
And war', which', for a moment',b was no more',
Did glut himself again';-a meal was bought
With blood'; and each sat sullenly apart',
Gorging himself in gloom'. No love was left';
All earth was but one thought'; and that was'... death',
Immediate and inglorious'; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails'. Men
Died', and their bones were tombless as their flesh';
The meager by the meager were devoured'.
Even dogs assailed their masters'; all', save one',
And he was faithful to a corse', and kept
The birds and beasts', and famished men', at bay',
Till hunger clung them', or the dropping dead
Lured their lank jaws. Himself sought out no food',
But with a piteous and perpetual moan',
And a quick', desolate cry', licking the hand
Which answered not with a caress'... he died'.
The crowd was famished by degrees'; but two
Of an enormous city did survive',
And they were enemies'. They met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place',
Where had been heaped a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage': they raked up',
And', shivering', scraped with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes', and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life', and made a flame
Which was a mockery'. Then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter', and beheld
Each other's aspects-saw', and shrieked', and died':
aA-gên'. Mo'mênt. Korse.
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