WITHIN my breast a meek submission reigns;
Unruffled as the stars I see thy face,
Of which I keep the semblance, not a trace
Of those old byegone love-throbs now remains :
Nor is it moved by burning, jealous pains,
That oft in quick succession took their place.
I see thy fair handwriting, in this case
The written page mine eyes no more enchains.
Yet, this I know, if Fate should send thee here,
We must not meet; there's not a doubt but all
My walls of strong defence would disappear;
I could not trust my wayward heart this much,
If on mine ears thy deep, soft tones should fall,
Nor neutralise the magnet of thy touch.
ALL crushed and broken are those tender flowers
That wilful Hope persisting strewed my way;
And there before mine eyes Love's rosebuds lay
Blushing, and waiting soft refreshing showers
To ope their petals sweet, in summer hours,
And bask in light and beauty while they may :
But just at brightest bloom they passed away,
And dying perfume breathed amidst their bowers.
The flowers are gone; their fragrance still remains
All hid within my breast as incense rare;
Though Love's departed, yet its influence reigns,
And gives more gentle thoughts the soul to share;
Beneath its gen'rous power the heart attains
A sweetness fair, that else were never there.
ON HER TWENTY-FIRST BIRTHDAY
THIS day hath dawned for thee, my darling sweet,
Which often thou hast longed for in the past;
Thy childhood's o'er, and thou hast gained at last
Fair womanhood's estate; for thee replete
With health, and joy, and love; gifts truly meet
For God's dear children. Now o'er thee is cast
The glory of life's sunshine; now thou hast
The fragrance of life's flowers at thy feet.
Thy smiling lips breathe sweet content; thine eyes Of clearest blue bespeak thy happy thought;
For in their depth a tender beauty lies,
That e'en we think a glimpse of Heaven is caught, Drawn as it were from out the far-off skies,
Which makes thy life with love for ever fraught.
ON HIS BIRTHDAY, MARCH 31
WHEN Winter's frosts had safely passed away,
And all his course of storm and tempest run,
Then birds and flowers peeped forth to meet the
For Spring-time came with bounding steps to say Her pleasant mission was to make earth gay; And raising fairy wand, she thereupon
Commanded Life to spring, and one by one
The earth disclosed sweet charms each new-born
'Twas thus midst budding trees, and sunshine brave, The wooing of the birds, the building of each nest, New-wakened Life to thee a greeting gave,
In mystic music all her love expressed,
Forecast of joys that I would wish thee have,
Thy length of days; the purest, sweetest, best.
YE countless, far-off suns that form a scheme
Unfathomable; hung above the blue
Of high-vaulted heaven, and sending through
The skies your inextinguishable beam ;
Now say if Heaven and Hell be all a dream,
And but a myth the vast hereafter, too,
Yet ye remain all steady, constant, true,
For ever kept alight by power supreme?
Is there no God? If so, then let your light
Now totter; your empyrean fires go cold;
No longer glist with scintillation bright,
Ye mysterious spheres of molten gold!
Now let your glory fade, and turn to night,
In darkness all the universe enfold.
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