Then while a sweeter music wakes, And thro' wild March the throstle calls, Where all about your palace-walls The sun-lit almond-blossom shakes Take, Madam, this poor book of song; For tho' the faults were thick as dust In vacant chambers, I could trust Your kindness. May you rule us long, And leave us rulers of your blood As noble till the latest day! May children of our children say, "She wrought her people lasting good; "Her court was pure; her life serene; God gave her peace; her land reposed; A thousand claims to reverence closed In her as Mother, Wife, and Queen ; "And statesmen at her council met Who knew the seasons when to take Occasion by the hand, and make The bounds of freedom wider yet CLARIBEL. A MELODY. I. WHERE Claribel low-lieth Letting the rose-leaves fall: II. At eve the beetle boometh And looketh down alone. The callow throstle lispeth, The slumbrous wave outwelleth, The babbling runnel crispeth, The hollow grot replieth Where Claribel low-lieth. LILIAN. I. AIRY, fairy Lilian, Flitting, fairy Lilian, When I ask her if she love me, Claps her tiny hands above me, Laughing all she can ; She 'll not tell me if she love me, Cruel little Lilian. II. When my passion seeks Pleasance in love-sighs, She, looking thro' and thro' me Thoroughly to undo me, Smiling, never speaks : And ever when the moon was low, She saw the gusty shadow sway. The shadow of the poplar fell She only said, "The night is dreary, All day within the dreamy house, The doors upon their hinges creak'd; The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd, Or from the crevice peer'd about. Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors, Old footsteps trod the upper floors, Old voices called her from without. She only said, "My life is dreary, The sparrow's chirrup on the roof, The poplar made, did all confound ΤΟ I. CLEAR-HEADED friend, whose joyful scorn, Edged with sharp laughter, cuts atwain The knots that tangle human creeds, The wounding cords that bind and strain The heart until it bleeds, Roof not a glance so keen as thine : II. Low-cowering shall the Sophist sit; Falsehood shall bare her plaited brow: Fair-fronted Truth shall droop not now With shrilling shafts of subtle wit. Nor martyr-flames, nor trenchant swords Can do away that ancient lie; A gentler death shall Falsehood die, Shot thro' and thro' with cunning words. III. Weak Truth a-leaning on her crutch, Past Yabbok brook the livelong night, MADELINE. I. THOU art not steep'd in golden languors, No tranced summer calm is thine, Ever varying Madeline. Thro' light and shadow thou dost range, Sudden glances, sweet and strange, Delicious spites and darling angers, And airy forms of flitting change. II. Smiling, frowning, evermore, Frowns perfect-sweet along the brow Thy smile and frown are not aloof Each to each is dearest brother; All the mystery is thine; III. A subtle, sudden flame, By veering passion fann'd, About thee breaks and dances; When I would kiss thy hand, The flush of anger'd shame O'erflows thy calmer glances, And o'er black brows drops down A sudden-curved frown: But when I turn away, Thou, willing me to stay, Wooest not, nor vainly wranglest; But, looking fixedly the while, All my bounding heart entanglest In a golden-netted smile; Then in madness and in bliss, If my lips should dare to kiss Thy taper fingers amorously, Again thou blushest angerly; And o'er black brows drops down A sudden-curved frown. II. I would mock thy chant anew ; With a lengthen'd loud halloo, RECOLLECTIONS OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. WHEN the breeze of a joyful dawn blew free In the silken sail of infancy, Of good Haroun Alraschid. Anight my shallop, rustling thro' Of good Haroun Alraschid. Often, where clear-stemm'd platans guard The boat-head down a broad canal A motion from the river won |