TO THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. BY MRS. E. F. ELLET. BIRD of the lone and joyless night— When darkness fills the dewy air, Nor sounds the song of happier bird, Alone amid the silence there Thy wild and plaintive note is heard. Thyself unseen-thy pensive moan Beside what still and secret spring, In what dark wood, the livelong day, Sit'st thou with dusk and folded wing, To while the hours of light away. Sad minstrel! thou hast learned like me, And well the lesson profits thee, Who will not trust its charms again! Thou, unbeguiled, thy plaint dost trill, To listening night when mirth is o'er : I, heedless of the warning, still Believe, to be deceived once more! CHANSONETTE. BY C. F. HOFFMAN. THEY are mockery all, those skies! those skies! Their untroubled depths of blue; They are mockery all, these eyes! these eyes! Each quiet star in the one that lies, The other's lashes through. They are mockery all, these flowers of Spring, Which her airs so softly woo; And the love to which we would madly cling, For the winds are false which the perfume stir, THE CLOUDS. BY JONATHAN LAWRENCE, JUN. THE clouds have their own language unto me Steals o'er the heart, as tread the elfish fays So, even so, to me the embracing clouds, With their pure thoughts leave holy traces here; The darkening earth, unto the blue, and clear, Have you not felt it when the dropping rain From the soft showers of Spring hath clothed the earth With its unnumbered offspring? felt not when The conquering sun hath proudly struggled forth In misty radiance, until cloud and spot Were blended in one brightness? Can you not Look out and love when the departing sun Their skirts his farewell smile ere shadows fall Or giving back those tints indefinite, Yet brightly blending, there to form that arch Marshalled their joyous and triumphant march, Oh, then as rose each lofty pile, and threw Its growing shadow on the sinking tide, Gaze yet again, and you may see on high The opposing hosts that mutter as they form Their stern battalions, ere the artillery Bids the destroying angel guide its storm; If you have heard on battle's eve the low Defiance quickly uttered to the foe, When the firm ranks gaze fiercely brow on brow And eye on eye, while every heart beats fast With hopes and fears, all feel, but none avow, Pulsations which perchance may be their last, Whom the unhonoured sepulchre shall shroud; If you have seen this, gaze upon that cloud. How from the bosom of its blackness springs That he who looks grows drunk with its array Oh, God! can he conceive who hath not known The wondrous workings of thy firmament, Thine untold majesty, around whose throne They stand, thy winged messengers, or sent In light or darkness on their destined path, Bestow thy blessings or direct thy wrath. Then here, in this thy lower temple, here We kneel to thee in worship; what to these Symbols of thine, wherein thou dost appear Are painted domes or priestly palaces; On this green turf, and gazing on yon sphere, We call on thee to commune and to bless, And see in holy fancy each pure sigh Ascend like incense to thy throne on high. THE ISLE OF REST. BY MRS. E. F. ELLET. Some of the islands where the fancied paradise of the Indians was situated, were believed to be in Lake Superior. THAT blessed isle lies far away— 'Tis many a weary league from land, No tempest's wrath, or stormy waters' roar, There the light breezes lie at rest, There the wild swan with plumed and glossy wing And far within, in murmurs heard, Comes, with the wind's low whispers there, Skimming the clear bright air. The sportive brook, with free and silvery tide, The sun there sheds his noontide beam Spring forth the forest flowers. The fountain flings aloft its showery spray, With rainbows decked, that mock the hues of day. |