Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

NORTH BEACH.

AFTER SPENSER.

Lo! where the castle of bold Pfeiffer throws
Its sullen shadow on the rolling tide,—

No more the home where joy and wealth repose,
But now where wassailers in cells abide;

See yon long quay that stretches far and wide,
Well known to citizens as wharf of Meiggs;
There each sweet Sabbath walks in maiden pride
The pensive Margaret, and brave Pat, whose legs
Encased in broadcloth oft keep time with Peg's.

Here cometh oft the tender nursery-maid,
While in her ear her love his tale doth pour ;
Meantime her infant doth her charge evade,
And rambleth sagely on the sandy shore,
Till the sly sea-crab, low in ambush laid,
Seizeth his leg and biteth him full sore.

Ah me! what sounds the shuddering echoes bore, When his small treble mixed with Ocean's roar.

Hard by there stands an ancient hostelrie,

And at its side a garden, where the bear,

The stealthy catamount, and coon agree

To work deceit on all who gather there;
And when Augusta-that unconscious fair-
With nuts and apples plieth Bruin free,

Lo! the green parrot claweth her back hair,
And the gray monkey grabbeth fruits that she

On her gay bonnet wears, and laugheth loud in glee!

THE LOST TAILS OF MILETUS.

HIGH on the Thracian hills, half hid in the billows

of clover,

Thyme, and the asphodel blooms, and lulled by

Pactolian streamlet,

She of Miletus lay, and beside her an aged satyr

Scratched his ear with his hoof, and playfully

mumbled his chestnuts.

Vainly the Mænid and the Bassarid gambolled about

her,

The free-eyed Bacchante sang, and Pan- the re

nowned, the accomplished—

Executed his difficult solo. In vain were their

gambols and dances:

High o'er the Thracian hills rose the voice of the

shepherdess, wailing.

"Ai! for the fleecy flocks, the meek-nosed, the

passionless faces;

[ocr errors]

Ai! for the tallow-scented, the straight-tailed, the

high-stepping;

Ai! for the timid glance, which is that which the rustic, sagacious,

Applies to him who loves but may not declare his passion!"

Her then Zeus answered slow: "O daughter of song

and sorrow,

Hapless tender of sheep,-arise from thy long lamen

tation !

Since thou canst not trust fate, nor behave as be

comes a Greek maiden,

Look and behold thy sheep."--And lo! they returned

to her tailless !

SAN FRANCISCO.

FROM THE SEA.

SERENE, indifferent of Fate,

Thou sittest at the Western Gate;

[blocks in formation]
« НазадПродовжити »