I wandered midst the silent wood,

And sought the greenest, coolest glade,
Where not a sunbeam might intrude;
And in a chestnut's quiet shade
I sate, and in that leafy gloom
Thought of the darkness of the tomb, -

And strove to lead my heart to drink
At the deep founts of wandering thought;
To ponder on the viewless link

Between our souls and bodies wrought; To quench my passionate dreams of thee A while in that philosophy.

Yet, all the while, thine image bright
Still flitted by my mind to win,
Casting through dreamy thoughts its light,
Like sunshine that would enter in;

And every leaf and every tree

Seemed quivering with beams of thee.

Beloved! I will strive no more!

Thine image, in vice-regal power, Shall ruling sit all memories o'er,

Throned in my heart, until the hour When thou thyself shalt come again, Restoring there thine olden reign.

SEEKING.

BY DORA GREENWELL.

"AND where, and among what pleasant places, Have ye been, that ye come again,

With your laps so full of flowers, and your faces Like buds blown fresh after rain?"

"We have been," said the children, speaking
In their gladness, as the birds chime
All together" we have been seeking
For the Fairies of olden time;

For we thought they are only hidden

They would surely never go
From this green earth all unbidden,
And the children that love them so.
Though they come not around us leaping,

As they did when they and the world
Were young, we shall find them sleeping
Within some broad leaf curled ;

For the lily its white doors closes,

But only over the bee,

And we looked through the summer roses,
Leaf by leaf, so carefully;

But yet rolled up we shall find them
Among mosses old and dry,

With gossamer threads to bind them;

They will dart like the butterfly

From its tomb. So we went forth seeking; Yet still they have kept unseen,

Though we think our feet have been keeping
The track where they have been;

For we saw where their dance went flying
O'er the pastures, snowy white,
Their seats and their tables lying
O'erthrown in their hasty flight.

And they too have had their losses;
For we found the goblets white
And red, in the old spiked mosses,
That they drank from over night;
And in the pale horn of the woodbine
Was some wine left, clear and bright.
But we found," said the children, speaking
More quickly, "so many things,

That we quite forgot we were seeking;
Forgot all the Fairy rings;

Forgot all the stories olden,

That we hear round the fire at night, Of their gifts and their favors golden, The sunshine was so bright;

And the flowers-we found so many,

It almost made us grieve

To think there were some, sweet as any,
That we were forced to leave,

As we left by the brookside lying,
The balls of drifted foam,

And brought (after all our trying)
These Guelder roses home."

"Then, O!" I heard one speaking

Beside me, soft and low,

"I have been, like the blessed children, seeking, Still seeking, high and low;

But not, like them, for the Fairies;

They might pass unmourned away

For me, that had looked on angels,
On angels that would not stay;
No! not though in haste before them
I spread all my heart's best cheer,
And made love my banner o'er them,

If it might but keep them here;

They staid but a while to rest them;

Long, long before its close,

From my feast, though I mourned and pressed them,

The radiant guests arose;

And their flitting wings struck sadness

And silence; never more

Hath my soul won back the gladness
That was its own before.

No, I mourned not for the Fairies;

When I had seen hopes decay,
That were sweet unto my spirit
So long, I said, 'If they

That through shade and sunny weather
Have twined about my heart
Should fade, we must go together,
For we can never part.'

But my care was not availing;

I found their sweetness gone; I saw their bright tints paling; They died yet I lived on."

Yet seeking, ever seeking,

Like the children, I have won A guerdon all undreamed of

When first my quest begun;