114

POEMS, TALES, AND SONGS.

A STRING OF RHYMES.

A GOOD NEW YEAR.

A GOOD new year-a happy new year—
A prosperous year to thee!

May its days be bright with a joyful light,
And its nights from sadness free!

A

prosperous year-a happy new year— A good new year to thee!

A BIRTHDAY BLESSING.

As upon the quiet flowing
Of the river shines the sun;
So with joy and gladness glowing,
May thy birthday moments run!

LOVE AND FAITH.

BELIEVE it, love, that I'll be true,
As daylight to the day;
Or as the flowers to golden hours,
In meadowlands of May.
And still believe me just as true,
Though flowers forget to bloom,
As evergreens are in the scenes
Of winter's weary gloom.

MY DEAREST AND MY OWN.

THERE may be some who fairer are,
As there are others gayer far,

But thou art mine alone;

And death alone may bid us part,
Yet then we one shall be in heart,
My dearest, and my own.

BEAUTY.

WITH Cheek bedight with all delight,

With neck as lily fair;

With eyes of glowing gems the type,

And softly flowing hair;

These charms are thine, but more divine,
And far such charms above,

Is that good-temper'd heart of thine,
Which none could help but love.

REMEMBRANCE.

As blossoms remember

To come with the Spring,—
As song-birds in Summer

Remember to sing,

116

POEMS, TALES, AND SONGS.

So thou art remember'd,
For such is the part
Thou constantly holdest
In this loving heart.

FRIENDSHIP.

MANY years have passed away,
There have many changes been,
Since our days of pleasant play,
On young life's fair flowery green:
But, dear friend, no stormy round
Of the rushing years might rend
Hearts asunder, truly bound,
As may ours be to the end!

TREASURE.

THERE are who charm with beauty warm
As glowing love can make it;
Of temper mild that passion wild

Can never come to shake it;

O worth divine! but this is thine,-
What treasure to inherit!

For I am thine, and thou art mine,

In body, soul, and spirit.

1

LOVE.

A WORLD without love!
What a world it would be!
No field, and no forest,
No flower, and no tree!
A cold thing-all winter!
A dead thing and drear!-
But love maketh summer-time
All through the year!

THE LOYALTY OF LOVE.

O, UNTO me, a Queen art thou-
Though not of land or sea—

Thy happy realm, with pleasure now,
True homage pays to thee;

For thou dost reign-not over part-
But over all my loving heart.

OUT OF REACH.

THE words are not within my reach,
Wherewith thy gentle heart to teach
How fervently I love thee:
To tell my wishes, and thy worth,
Requires not common words of earth,
But those of heaven above me,

JOY OF LOVE.

OH! blessed is the joy of love,
The priest of blessing given,
To win the earth to heaven above,
And unto earth wed heaven:
For when the heart by love is won,
Heaven surely is on earth begun.

BENEVOLENCE.

Lines occasioned by the liberal efforts made to soothe the sorrow and repair the damage done by the bursting of the Bilberry Reservoir, in the vale of the Holme.

Ir speaketh, and distress departs;

It smiles, and, as when morn appears,
Joy cometh calmly down to hearts
Low in the night of fears.

For awful was the midnight hour,

The vale of Holme was rent and torn;
Dreadful the ocean-burst of power;-
What ruin met the morn!

High rose the wail-the fearful wail,

From hearts not quickly moved to cry;

But on the death-devoted vale

Shone mercy from on high.