O, the garden I remember,
In the gay and sunny spring, When our laughter made the thickets And the arching alleys ring!
O the merry burst of gladness! O the soft and tender tone! O the whisper never utter'd
Save to one fond ear alone!
O the light of life that sparkled In those bright and bounteous eyes! O the blush of happy beauty,
Tell-tale of the heart's surprise!
O the radiant light that girdled Field and forest, land and sea, When we all were young together, And the earth was new to me!
Where are now the flowers we tended? Wither'd, broken, branch and stem; Where are now the hopes we cherish'd? Scatter'd to the winds with them.
For ye, too, were flowers, ye dear ones! Nursed in hope and rear'd in love, Looking fondly ever upward
To the clear blue heaven above.
Is it not sweet to think, hereafter.
Is it not sweet to think, hereafter, When the spirit leaves this sphere, Love, with deathless wing, shall waft her
To those she long hath mourn'd for here?
Hearts, from which 'twas death to sever, Eyes, this world can ne'er restore, There, as warm, as bright as ever, Shall meet us and be lost no more.
Oh! if no other boon were given,
To keep our hearts from wrong and stain, Who would not try to win a Heaven Where all we love shall live again?
THOU wert a vision of delight To bless us given; Beauty embodied to our sight, A type of Heaven:
So dear to us thou wert, thou art Even less thine own self than a part Of mine and of thy mother's heart, Casa Wappy!
Gem of our hearth, our household pride, Earth's undefiled;
Could love have saved, thou hadst not died, Our dear, sweet child! Humbly we bow to God's decree ;
Yet had we hoped that time should see Thee mourn for us, not us for thee, Casa Wappy!
Do what I may, go where I will, Thou meet'st my sight;
There dost thou glide before me still- A form of light!
I feel thy breath upon my cheek- I see thee smile, I hear thee speak- Till, oh my heart is like to break, Casa Wappy!
The nursery shows thy pictured wall, Thy bat, thy bow,
Thy cloak and bonnet, club and ball; But where art thou?
A corner holds thine empty chair, Thy playthings idly scatter'd there, But speak to us of our despair,
And though, perchance, a smile may gleam
It doth not own, whate'er may seem,
The self-conferred pet name of an infant son of the poet, taken from earth after a very brief illness.
We miss thy small step on the stair; We miss thee at thine evening prayer ; All day we miss thee, everywhere, Casa Wappy!
Then be to us, O dear, lost child! With beam of love,
A star, death's uncongenial wild Smiling above;
Soon, soon thy little feet have trod The skyward path, the seraph's road, That led thee back from man to God, Casa Wappy!
Farewell, then-for a while, farewell- Pride of my heart!
It cannot be that long we dwell,
Thus torn apart:
Time's shadows like the shuttle flee; And dark howe'er life's night may be, Beyond the grave I'll meet with thee, Casa Wappy!
That Name, how often ebery Day.
THAT name! how often every day We spake it and we heard; It was to us, 'mid tasks or play, A common household word.
'Tis breathed yet, that name—but oh! How solemn now the sound!
One of the sanctities which throw Such awe our homes around.
There are homesteads which have witness'd deeds That battle-fields, with all their banner'd pomp, Have little to compare with. Life's great play May, so it have an actor great enough, Be well perform'd upon a humble stage.
WE must be free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold Which Milton held.-In every thing we are sprung Of Earth's first blood, have titles manifold.
What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honour in one eye, and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently: For, let the gods so speed me, as I love The name of honour more than I fear death.
Patriots have toil'd, and in their country's cause Bled nobly; and their deeds, as they deserve, Receive proud recompense. We give in charge Their names to the sweet lyre. The historic muse, Proud of the treasure, marches with it down To latest times; and sculpture, in her turn, Gives bond in stone and ever-during brass To guard them, and t' immortalise her trust.
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