A VOYAGER'S DREAM OF LAND. -His very heart athirst To gaze at Nature in her green array, Upon the ship's tall side he stands, possess'd Fair fields appear below, such as he left Far distant, such as he would die to find He seeks them headlong, and is seen no more. Cowper. THE hollow dash of waves !-the ceaseless roar ! Silence, ye billows-vex my soul no more! There's a spring in the woods by my sunny home, Oh! the fall of that fountain is sweet to hear, As a song from the shore to the sailor's ear. And the gleam on its path as it steals away And the large water-lilies that o'er its bed Their pearly leaves to the soft light spread, They haunt me !-I dream of that bright spring's flow, Be still, thou sea-bird, with thy clanging cry, Know ye my home, with the lulling sound With the streamy gold of the sun that shines And the fire-fly's glance through the darkening shades, And the scent of the citron at eve's dim fall Speak!-have ye known, have ye felt them all? The heavy-rolling surge,-the rocking mast! Hush!-give my dream's deep music way, thou blast! 70 A VOYAGER'S DREAM OF LAND. Oh! the glad sounds of the joyous earth! The wings flitting home through the crimson glow The voice of the night-bird that sends a thrill To the heart of the leaves when the winds are still— The white foam dashes high-away, away, Shroud my green land no more, thou blinding spray! It is there!-down the mountains I see the sweep And the light pouring through them in tender gleams, To the hills of my youth, where the myrtles blow, To the depths of the woods, where the shadows rest, To the rocks that resound with the water's play I hear the sweet laugh of my fount-give way! Give way!—the booming surge, the tempest's roar, THE GRAVE OF KÖRNER. Charles Theodore Körner, the celebrated young German poet and soldier, was killed in a skirmish with a detachment of French troops, on the 20th of August 1813, a few hours after the composition of his popular piece, "The Sword Song." He was buried at the village of Wöbbelin in Mecklenburg, under a beautiful oak, in a recess of which he had frequently deposited verses composed by him while campaigning in its vicinity. The monument erected to his memory is of cast iron, and the upper part is wrought into a lyre and a sword, a favorite emblem of Körner's, from which one of his works had been entitled. Near the grave of the poet is that of his only sister, who died of grief for his loss, having only survived him long enough to complete his portrait, and a drawing of his burial place. Over the gate of the cemetery is engraved one of his own lines. "Vergiss die treuen Tödten nicht." See Downes's Letters from Mecklenburg, and Körner's Prosaische Aufsätze, von C. A. Tiedge. GREEN wave the oak forever o'er thy rest, Thou that beneath its crowning foliage sleepest, And, in the stillness of thy country's breast, Thy place of memory, as an altar, keepest ; |