To tell how fair it was in happier hours: THE FAITH OF LOVE. Thou hast watch'd beside the bed of death, O fearless human love! Thy lip received the last faint breath, Thy prayer was heard by the parting bier, In a low and farewell tone, Thou hast given the grave both flower and tear. Then turn thee from each pleasant spot, For there the friend of thy soul is not, Thou wilt meet but mournful Memory there, With echoes filling the summer air, With sighs the trembling leaves. Then turn thee to the world again, From these dim haunted bowers, And shut thine ear to the wild sweet strain That tells of vanish'd hours. And wear not on thine aching heart The image of the dead, For the tie is rent that gave thee part And gaze on the pictured smile no more All between parted souls is o'er; -Love! Love! forget the past! "Voice of vain boding! away, be still! That yet my bosom with light can fill, "From the pictured smile I will not turn, Though sadly now it shine; Nor quit the shades that in whispers mourn For the step once link'd with mine: "Nor shut mine ear to the song of old, Though its notes the pang renew, -Such memories deep in my heart I hold, To keep it pure and true. "By the holy instinct of my heart, By the presence that about me seems wwwwwwww. HEMANS. THE BETROTHED. Betrothed to one long worship'd and enshrined The noble maiden sat!—and in her ear Came those low tones which maidens deem most dear, The eye which woo'd you like a star to gaze, Had hung a sweet and dreamlike spell upon And shaded the soft soul which loved to lie Lone — thoughtful — tender— ever from her birth, They shrink from earth, and banquet on sweet thought, And passion grows their life; alas ! for those Who bind on reeds their hopes-their joys—their all, www. Oh! cast thou not Affection from thee! In this bitter world HEMANS. A WOMAN'S HEART. That hallow'd sphere, a woman's heart, contains Empires of feeling, and the rich domains Where Love, disporting in his sunniest hours, Breathes his sweet incense o'er ambrosial flowers; that gem, divinely set A woman's heart! In native gold that peerless amulet, Which firmly link'd to Love's electric chain, J. BIRD. GIVE ME BUT THY LOVE. Give me but thy love, and I Envy none beneath the sky; If thy presence cheer me. When thou smilest near me. Happy 'twere, beloved one, To thy fond arms retiring; |