Even as a miser counts his gold,

Those hours the ancient timepiece told,"Forever never!

Never-forever!"

From that chamber, clothed in white,

The bride came forth on her wedding night; There, in that silent room below,

The dead lay in his shroud of snow;

And in the hush that followed the prayer,

Was heard the old clock on the stair,

"Forever- never!

All are scattered now and fled,
Some are married, some are dead;
And when I ask, with throbs of pain,
"Ah! when shall they all meet again?”
As in the days long since gone by,
The ancient timepiece makes reply, -
"Forever never!

Never here, forever there,

Where all parting, pain, and care,
And death, and time shall disappear,
Forever there, but never here!
The horologe of Eternity

Sayeth this incessantly,

"Forever - never!

Never forever!"

THE ARROW AND THE SONG

I

SHOT an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where ;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where ;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

VOL. V.

SONNETS

E