She looked to the far-off town and wept; And oh! could you blame the poor girl's tears? For she thought how many a maiden slept, With Love and Honor as wardens near; No human eye and no human ear E'er saw a struggle or heard a sound; And the curious never could spare a tear As they looked at morn on the outcast drown'd; But ah! had speech been given the dead, Perhaps those motionless lips had said, 'No homeless are found in heaven.' FEVER. THOU hast been ill, and I was never nigh thee, Could I have kneeled beside thee, and have told thee Gazing into thine eyes without a word; Or to have kissed thy cheek, so hot and throbbing, I could have hushed my breath while thou wert sleeping, Or in it sunk, unshrinking, at thy side. Alas! thou might'st have died, and yet beside thee Have felt the blessing that thy latest prayer The midnight came, and I could never slumber, The morning came, and brought the night's unrest, That thy pure soul unfit for mine so lowly, But thou art spared me, oh, this stubborn spirit, The garland of thy love I did not merit, And yet it is not plucked from off my brow; And, in my dreams, thy semblance, like an angel, Smiles gently on me, bids me not to fear, Into my spirit sinks the blest Evangel, And echoes sweetly, Be thou of good cheer.' THE ROSARY. THEY sat together in the wood, And through the shade the sunlight fell, Was crossed with Grief's alloy. 'And take,' she said, 'this cross and chain, And wear it on thy breast: 6 I've counted oft each bead and link To lull me to my rest; And many a time this little cross Thou goest from me I no more I shall not see thy form at eve, If Evil lure thee from the Right, If Conscience plead in vain, Oh! like an iron link to Truth, Heaven make this fragile chain ! And may this cross burn in thy heart, Till thou art strong again. 'If bluer, softer eyes than mine Still be this chain about thy soul, And so they parted: she to wear, A cross and chain upon his heart, From the far heaven let down. |