345 At this all laughed; the Landlord stirred, As one awaking from a swound, Then all arose, and said "Good Alone remained the drowsy Squire The scattered lamps a moment gleamed, BIRDS OF PASSAGE. FLIGHT THE SECOND. THE CHILDREN'S HOUR. BETWEEN the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour. I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened, And voices soft and sweet. From my study I see in the lamplight, Descending the broad hall-stair, Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, And Edith with golden hair. A whisper, and then a silence : Yet I know by their merry eyes They are plotting and planning together To take me by surprise. A sudden rush from the stairway, They climb up into my turret O'er the arms and back of my chair; If I try to escape they surround me; They seem to be everywhere. They almost devour me with kisses, Their arms about me entwine, Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine! Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti, Because you have scaled the wall, Such an old moustache as I am Is not a match for you all! And will not let you depart, In the round-tower of my heart. Yes, forever and a day, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin, ENCELADUS. UNDER Mount Etna he lies, It is slumber, it is not death; For he struggles at times to arise, And above him the lurid skies Are hot with his fiery breath. The crags are piled on his breast, The earth is heaped on his head; Are watching with eager eyes; And the old gods, the austere Ah me! for the land that is sown Where ashes are heaped in drifts "At Over vineyard and field and town, Whenever he starts and lifts His head through the blackened rifts Of the crags that keep him down. See, see! the red light shines! 'Tis the glare of his awful eyes! And the storm-wind shouts through the pines Of Alps and of Apennines, "Enceladus, arise!" THE CUMBERLAND. AT anchor in Hampton Roads we lay, On board of the Cumberland, sloopof-war ; And at times from the fortress across the bay The alarum of drums swept past, Or a bugle blast From the camp on the shore. Then far away to the south uprose A little feather of snow-white smoke, And we knew that the iron ship of our foes Was steadily steering its course Of our ribs of oak. Down upon us heavily runs, Silent and sullen, the floating fort; Then comes a puff of smoke from her guns, And leaps the terrible death, We are not idle, but send her straight Of the monster's hide. "Strike your flag!" the rebel cries, In his arrogant old plantation strain. "Never!" our gallant Morris replies; "It is better to sink than to yield!' And the whole air pealed With the cheers of our men. Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms! O Life and Love! O happy throng SOMETHING LEFT UNDONE. LABOUR with what zeal we will, Something still remains undone, Something uncompleted still Waits the rising of the sun. By the bedside, on the stair, At the threshold, near the gates, With its menace or its prayer, Like a mendicant it waits; Waits, and will not go away; Waits, and will not be gainsaid. By the cares of yesterday Each to-day is heavier made; Pressing on us everywhere. On their shoulders held the sky. WEARINESS. O LITTLE feet! that such long years Must wander on through hopes and fears, Must ache and bleed beneath your I, nearer to the wayside inn Have still so long to give or ask; O little hearts! that throb and beat With such impatient, feverish heat, Such limitless and strong desires; Mine, that so long has glowed and burned, With passions into ashes turned, Now covers and conceals its fires. O little souls! as pure and white Direct from heaven, their source divine; Refracted through the mist of years, How red my setting sun appears, How lurid looks this soul of mine! FLOWER-DE-LUCE. FLOWER-DE-LUCE. BEAUTIFUL lily, dwelling by still rivers, Or solitary mere, Or where the sluggish meadow-brook delivers Its waters to the weir! Thou laughest at the mill, the whirr and worry Of spindle and of loom, And the great wheel that toils amid the hurry And rushing of the flume. Born to the purple, born to joy and pleasance, Thou dost not toil nor spin, But makest glad and radiant with thy presence The meadow and the lin. The wind blows, and uplifts thy droop ing banner, And round thee throng and run The rushes, the green yeomen of thy Thou art the Muse, who far from crowded cities Hauntest the sylvan streams, Playing on pipes of reed the artless ditties That come to us as dreams. O flower-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river Linger to kiss thy feet! O flower of song, bloom on, and make for ever The world more fair and sweet. PALINGENESIS. I LAY upon the headland-height, and Then suddenly, as one from sleep, I started; For round about me all the sunny capes Seemed peopled with the shapes Of those whom I had known in days departed, Apparelled in the loveliness which gleams On faces seen in dreams. A moment only, and the light and glory Faded away, and the disconsolate shore Stood lonely as before; |