Part 2

I read on evening's roseate pile Hope of a lovelier day than this; I hailed in that expiring smile Assurance of eternal bliss.

THE COMET.

Lone one, wilt thou no signal pass, Thy mission to declare, Whether a world-destroying mass, Or flame-flower of Elysian grass, Or seraph's burning hair?

Or may be torch from hearth unknown Upheld by powers unseen, Each pacing their appointed zone In mute procession one by one A thousand years between.

Let Time shake out my dribbling sand; Who would not die to see The eternal treasures of a land Whose glories shine above a strand With waifs and strays like thee!

THE ROCKET.

The child who sees the rocket fire Its arch of stars o'er tower and plain, Laments to find them all expire, And but a worthless wand remain.

And such with all its soaring sound Is eloquence despite of art, Whose flashy flights the ear astound, But leave no light within the heart.

THE GIRANDOLA AT ROME.

O suns! O founts! O domes of fire, O palaces of seraph kings! O shining ones who all aspire To fan the stars with flaming wings!

My soul, what gracious glorious power To hue and radiance God hath given! I felt as though for half-an-hour I stood before the gates of Heaven.

Now all is dark, and so I bring With joy my splendid memories home, And think of heaven whene'er I sing The bright Girandola of Rome.

THE MOON

ON EARTH DISOWNED, IN HEAVEN ENTHRONED.

When first behind the woods arose The moon with red distempered fire, We feared beyond the hilly close Some conflagration dire.

But see her now enthroned on high, Clear of the thwarting trees, She glows upon the watchet sky God's seal of golden peace.

So spirits rich in grace divine Misunderstood, distorted, here, Shall with unsullied lustre shine In Heaven's congenial sphere.

HEAVEN LIGHTS AND HOME LIGHTS.

Pale broken lights that close our heavenly view Caressing eve ere weeps the twilight dew, Tender ye are as love smiles shining through Life's parting hour: adieu, dark day, adieu!

Ye cheer our footsteps on the wintry way, Kind hints from Heaven when earth is cold and gray. Heaven is our home; and we but wanderers through This glimmering vale: adieu, dark day, adieu!

Short is our journey now, nor steep the road; Sound still our limbs and light our daily load; Chill night we leave behind, and hasten through Home's glowing door: adieu, dark day, adieu!

Dear emblems, these we cherish till the last Deep nightfall on our brows the shadow cast, And we by faith see glory shining through The door of death: adieu, dark day, adieu!

CLOUD EMBLEM.

Beneath the vault of yonder clouds A lake of sunshine lies, The rent between those shifting shrouds Reveals it to our eyes.

The glory of its amber light Clasped by an opal shore, Melts me to joy I cannot write And makes my heart adore.

I feel as if the great white throne Rose dazzling there above, Nor inaccessible its zone To those that feel and love.

Beneath, the elders all bow down Each in his radiant stole-- Each in the lake hath cast his crown, The homage of a soul.

Emblem of Heaven! sublime device! No air can thee retain: Read in the Word, the Heart, the Skies, Thee we shall meet again.

COTTAGE SMOKE ASCENDING.

The silent smoke in column true Streams from the poor man's hearth, Right up into the ether blue, Uniting heaven and earth.

From lowly hearts thus quiet prayer Sends up a golden cord To God's right hand, uniting there The labourer to his Lord.

SMOKE NOT ASCENDING.

The lolling smoke which clouds the noonday skies And mars the outline of our orchard trees, Smirching the buds and blossoms, here supplies An emblem of the gross ignoble ease

Of apathetic souls, which lost in sloth, Lifting no thought to heaven, with sordid care Infect young hearts around, and check the growth Of aspirations craving purer air.

THE CARELESS SHEPHERD.

How like the world these flowery leas On which fantastic shadows play; And, lo, the shepherd sleeps at ease, And sheep like sinners go astray.

The night mist broods o'er yonder mere; Wake, slumberer! lest thy Lord complain When the dim folding hour draws near, And thou shalt seek His lambs in vain.

CHILD AND SNAKES.

Haste! ere the simple infant die Which, lured by glistening strakes, With tender fingers would untie That knot of tangled snakes.

Thus man with a perverted skill, In his own darkness blind, The mystic coil of Fate and Will Seeks madly to unbind.

Guide Thou aright his questing zeal, Teach him in Thy bright word Content Thy perfect love to feel, O Spirit of the Lord!

INNOCENCE.

We children shuddered when we heard Of many a pretty painted bird Held by the glittering eye Of cruel serpent, fold on fold, Close gliding, till with blood run cold The victim dropt to die.

But we revived when friends would say How rustling leaf, or broken spray Might foil the poisonous snare, And how the bird, untranced and free, Shoots like a meteor from the tree Into the azure air.

So innocence may be beguiled By sensual spirits masked and mild, And feigning pure delight; But dropt the mask,--on wings of prayer, O'er mists of earth and clouds of air She gains her holy height.

HILARION.

See at Hilarion's saintly sign The serpent mount the pyre, And all its scaly strength resign To the consuming fire.

Such is the miracle of Grace Which on the pilgrim's way, Ordains that hell's malignant race Should work its own decay.

Let but the faithful suppliant urge, God will His fire impart, The serpent coils of sin to purge From every willing heart.

THE FOOLISH COLT.

This discontented colt, full fed, Aweary of its pasture rich, Half dislocates its brainless head For nettles in the dusty ditch.

Skills not the amplest range of joys, What we have not is our desire; This proved amid his golden toys The little prince who screamed for mire.

TROUTS.

With poising fins against the stream, Their heads the shadowy troutlings set, Though vain their patient instincts seem, For chilly April's mirrored gleam No fly disturbs as yet.

And so against ill-fashion's tide, With faithful wills untaught to swerve, Though cold philosophy deride, The saints hold on and calmly bide His season whom they serve.

THE PLATYPUS.

A triple monster here is shown Which old Chimera mocks, Bird, fish, and quadruped in one, The duck-billed Paradox.

Emblem of him whose every wish Concentres in a feast; Like duck he gobbles, drinks like fish, And proves himself a beast.

THE RAPE OF PROSERPINE.

Sweet Proserpine you here behold Far from her corn-crowned mother's care, Dragged down by Pluto, swart and old, His dismal throne to share.

She figures many a one the prey Of passion's ill-resisted powers, Who, spurning all that love can say, Seeks but for earthly flowers.

Ere these you gather, maiden mine, With faith's pure lilies wreathe your soul, Then fear not any art malign Shall work thee mortal dole.

GIRLS RUNNING.

As yet they make of life a dancing race, Rarely they pause to pant, still less to think; They have not met the dark ones face to face, They have not shuddered o'er the ghastly brink. Life's holiday is theirs;--how sweet to hear The gay young laughter rippling down the wind; Ah! who would breathe the name of care or fear, Or hint that fortune could be less than kind!

They skim gazelle-like pitfalls set in flowers, Too glib their ankles for the serpent's bite, Yet on and on they rush to meet the hours Of dimness and perplexity and night. Yes, each must suffer, and some too will fall, But not for aye need sin and grief o'ercast; May He who knows His lambs, and loves them all, To His own fold ingather them at last.

THE SIREN.

A Siren on a rocky isle, A youth upon the cliff is seen; She tries his fancy to beguile, The deep dark water moans between.

"Gentle thou art," he saith, "and fair, Yet nought thine azure eyes avail, Amid the golden coils of hair, Gleams weirdly forth the fish's tail."

Yet still he gazed, she smiled the more: She sang a wondrous witching strain; He groaned and sighed, he laughed and swore, Then plunged into the deadly main.

THE STRANGE CHOICE.

How grim the woods, the tower how pale; The landscape colourless and cold, While all the hovel foul and frail, The ragged thatch and battered sail, Are gorgeous in the sunset gold!

Such seems the girl's capricious part, Who flouts the noble, wise, and true, And wastes her loving burning heart, And glorifies with doting art The basest of her courting crew.

THE PUDDLE.

This shallow pool which ruffling in the breeze, Spurts gold and azure at the morning sun, Ere night will be a blot of slimy lees, By the absorbing heat and wind foredone.

Thou dost with glittering surface, puddle fine, Of fools and prodigals the fate pourtray, Who in the transient flattery swell and shine Of knaves who suck their substance all away.

THE MIRY LANE.

We looked o'er the gate on a wearisome lane, Tracked afar by cold gleams of the new fallen rain; An emblem it seemed of that oft-trodden road, The sorrowful life, and its final abode, With its mire of transgressions and furrows of care, Its pools full of tears, and its sloughs of despair; And we sighed to perceive it was lost to our view Amid desolate wilds and vague ridges of blue. But there flamed up the welkin a ravishing change, That engulphed in its splendours the misty cloud range, And the path that we shuddered at caught the sky's fire, The pools flushed in silver, and gold was its mire; And we smiled in our hearts when we saw that it led Right into the sunset 'neath streamers of red. Faith's path will reflect the celestial glow, And bring heaven to the heart wheresoever we go; Deep and rough it may be, yet they sing on the road Who know that it ends in the welcome of God.

THE DOUBTFUL RACE.

Beyond the hill his vessel lies, Would he were safe upon its side, Who now through brake and thicket flies To gain the ferry in his stride.

Loitering at first, though well he knew That time and tide for no man wait, He dreads to think what ills pursue The idle seaman all too late.

Nelson, himself a nation's power, Victor of hosts in every clime, Stood ready aye before the hour, Nor ever deigned to race with time.

THE SLIDING BOY.

He shouts, he slides, my rosy boy, A moment, then comes rattling down; Youth's type is here, a slippery joy, A sudden fall, a bleeding crown.

He rises, brushing off the tears In silence as he glides again; And typifies through all our years The soberer course which follows pain.

YOUTH.

That thoughtless child of sport and truth, I cannot with reproaches stone, O loving, laughing, trusting youth, For ever, ever gone!

Sin taints, alas! the old and young, And thou hast duly borne the rod; And often for a venial wrong, Thou sweetest gift of God.

I love to muse upon the boy, And his sublime aspirings trace, When hand in hand with Hope and Joy He challenged Fate to race.

Still in my heart I fain would bear Some flowers of his beyond the tomb, Perhaps the crystal waters there May renovate their bloom.

THE FERRY OF DEATH.

When o'er death's ferry youth departs, Upbraid not his reluctant moan; Think of the loved and loving hearts He leaves, to cross the gulf alone.

But when life's sun is low i' the west, Calmly we may our turn abide, For most of those we love the best Are shining on the other side.

THE FORGE AND THE SUNSET.

The sunset pales along the height, The smithy flashes free below, And ever in the thickening light The forge emits a lustier glow.

As Faith declines, with grosser flame Earth's passion thus our being fills; And Heaven becomes a fading name, A glimmer o'er death's shadowy hills.

THE UNDERGROWTH.

In yonder grove the woodman's bill The pillared trees by scores hath laid, But Nature every gap will fill, The springing undergrowth will spread, And we shall half forget the ill, So rich the greenery overhead.

Thus Death, the hewer, down may smite Into the depths where all must blend, The dearest from our daily sight, Yet love shall never lack a friend; Still proffer us the young and bright Such kindly escort to the end.

WINTER IN MAY.

Winter! black-browed and bearded with the snows, We thought thee vexed with April's wanton ways Brooding afar amid the Arctic floes, Or with new icebergs fringing dreary bays.

Loyal we honoured thy appointed time, And crowned thee January's lawful king; Why falls thy crushing sceptre edged with rime Upon the verdant loveliness of spring?

We think of Holbein's pencil, quaint and coarse, And that weird skeleton in ghastly pride Haling to doom with such superfluous force All in her flowery youth the virgin bride.

THE SOLITARY.

Aweary of his worldly life, The tempter to elude, The hermit flies from work and strife To desert solitude.

But there, alas! finds no repose From Fancy's Comus crew, Since dream he must, where'er he goes, With nothing else to do.

Would'st drive such imps from heart and brain, Take, then, the ancient way, Prescribed in many a holy strain, And work as well as pray.

THE GOLDEN MEAN.

All inaccessible a Tree arose Amid the shining mountains of Cathay, Its head was capp'd with numbing mists and snows, Around its root a fiery whirlpool lay;

But midway 'twixt the furnace and the cloud Bright fruits were by the keen-eyed watchers seen; "There," cried the sage to the excited crowd, "Behold the treasures of the Golden Mean."

Then girt he some with wings, and won to skill Through many a fall between the earth and sun, The wings bore names--th' indomitable Will, And Faith--by these the glorious prize they won.

AUTUMN.

He sat among the yellowing trees, Low winds to beech and oak did call, Murmuring of Nature's old decrees And yearly tribute to the Fall.

Now is there silence all around, And you may hear the branches cast Their offerings on the fragrant ground, 'Tis here an acorn, there a mast.

And thus in life's autumnal grove, At intervals, with bated breath, We hear the ripe ones whom we love Drop to the quiet home of death.

JUSTISSIMA TELLUS.

Dear mother Earth, no usurer thou, Since all who heed thy liberal law, For every dint of spade or plough On vale or heath or mountain brow, A full and punctual interest draw.

And still thy richest sheaves are they Which, in the ripeness of the years, The angel-reapers bear away To glory and eternal day, When nought of thee but dust appears.

Thrice happy they who trace the line In every quickening field and grove Of heaven's munificent design, The recompense of life divine For toiling days of faithful love.

THE FLINTY FIELD.

You scorn our hill of glittering flints As though 'twere sown with dragon's teeth, For that the surface gives no hints, No hopes of genial growth beneath.

Judge not the surface, bide the hour When He, whose grace can melt the rock, Shall bid o'er every flint to tower A hundred-headed golden shock.

HOME AND ABROAD.

Black and white in a windy war-- Lo! wave devouring wave, And wilder as we look afar The ocean monsters rave.

But here, within this sheltering bight, A glossy sheet upcurls In whispering cadence low and light, Its rainbows fringed with pearls.

Secluded thus from outer brawl, In unambitious ease, Be ours the lowly home where all Is tuned to love and peace.

DISTANT SOUNDS.

The children at their evening play Shout from the village street; The wind blows all that's rude away, The rest is gay and sweet.

So from our garden seat on high, We love the sound to hear, For distance that enchants the eye Can fascinate the ear.

Trills that distract us from the cage Were in the woods a joy; Who scans too narrowly life's page Will many a boon destroy.

THE FRIENDLY THORN.

I thought an asp had stung my hand While thridding Narnis' fragrant wood, When lo! in purpling blushes grand, As if my homage to command, The queen of all wild roses stood.

The captive beauty soon I bound My lady's bosom to adorn,-- Beauty whose joy I ne'er had found, Upon that tangled briery mound, But for the sharp and friendly thorn.

So hearts that slept from hour to hour, Pierced to the quick by sorrow's cry, Awake to fresh inspiring power, And clasp Faith's brightest purest flower, The rose divine of Charity.

HAPPINESS.

To figure true felicity This picture doth intend, A pleasant road, sweet company, And God's house at the end.

BRIDEGROOM TO BRIDE.

To the happy all things are heavenly.

Where'er I turn this blessed day, 'Tis heaven and sunshine every way; With heavenly songs and heavenly hues, Mingle the birds, and flowers, and dews. Lo! here within the crystal moat Heaven's clouds like radiant islands float, And high above the golden hill Smiles heavenly summer blue and still. I gaze into thy loving eyes, Heaven there in twofold azure lies; And when I glance into my heart, 'Tis heaven indeed--for there thou art!

THE EAR-RING.

An ear-ring you devise For your affianced girl; No diamond will suffice, Nor wealth of lustrous pearl,

But call her "dearest dear," Swear nought your love shall sever, If true, you deck her ear With gems that shine for ever.

THE GARDEN POOL.

Charmed by the lily's golden eye, I rest upon this margin cool, And think what leagues of azure sky Are mirrored in the tiny pool.

Delicious emblem of the mind Whose fancy rules this bright parterre, Ever 'mid sweetest flowers I find The depths of heaven reflected there.

THE SCARECROW.

"O Bella! what strange wight is there, Dark on the evening sky, With flowing cloak, and streaming hair, And head so grandly high?

I feel a throbbing at my heart, For William 'tis too soon; See how he waves his arms apart Saluting the new moon!

Oh, clear as daylight is the truth, Blinder than bats were we, It is the long-haired foreign youth Who sang last night to me.

He sang of Fatherland and Rhine; Hush, O provoking cow! I heard the sweet preluding line, The whispering notes, I vow."

But nearer as they drew to see, O phantasy forlorn! They find for love and melody A scarecrow in the corn.

WE JUDGE OTHERS BY OURSELVES.

Here within this golden grove, Paved with many a purple flower, Here I sit and wait my love Through the May-day's parting hour.

Where the budding gnomons throw Lengthening shadows far and near, Mute I sit as man of snow, Till my darling's voice I hear.

Ah! your mirth my passion stirs, Mine who am so old and frail; Bear with me, O lusty sirs! For my love's the nightingale.

THE LAY FIGURE.

Vanità che par persona.--DANTE, _Inf. 6_.

There smirks in many a painter's room, With padded limbs and varnished face, A quaint machine that can assume Each attitude that art would trace.

This doll adult, when featly tired, Can all that's great or fair display, Warrior, or dame, or saint inspired, Prince, troubadour, or lovely may.

And far beyond the studio's bound, In court and camp, in church or mart, Living machines like this are found, Which lure the eye but mock the heart.

On wooden-headed soulless guys We see such draping splendours thrust; But raise the robe, and all surprise Closes in pity and disgust.

THE WINDMILL.

That windmill with its sails at rest A thing immovable appears, And o'er the little hamlet nest The symbol of Salvation rears.

But when its arms the breezes spurn, 'Tis Fortune's wheel we image there; Reared and depress'd they show in turn Hope, joy, dejection, and despair.

Unstable souls, the Church at peace, Seem steadfast thus in high resolve, But in her storms and perils--these Through many a shifting phase revolve.

FAIRIES AND FACTORIES.

They crush with piles and tear with thundering wheel The rainbow arches from the torrent's spray; The frightened Fairies, sure of no appeal, Pair off in mournful minuets away.

So drudging life stamps out with daily pain Our brightest, lightest fancies one by one; Oh, may we hope to see them shine again Beyond this working world, beyond the sun!

RIGHTEOUS OVERMUCH.

The youthful Furius sped so fast Before his folly's roaring wind, His wildest mates he overpass'd, And health and sense were left behind.

Now turned fanatic devotee He deems his mother church too slow, So charters some new craft that he A readier way to Heaven may go.

Take heed, my Furius, lest you sail For love and patience all too fast, Without their convoy faith may quail A prey to pirate pride at last.

INEXPERIENCE.

Eye of stranger magnifies danger.

"Adown the dreadful glacis madly borne, Against that foaming barricado cast, The barque is doomed! and with a hissing scorn The surge will dance upon the foundering mast."

The landsman thus; the seaman smiles, quoth he, "The barque and wave, together mount and fall; The horse upholds his rider, so will she Career in triumph o'er the watery brawl.

"Oft inexperience brandeth for a bane That which for noble uses wisdom gave; The path I hail to glory or to gain To you, untried, reflects an ocean grave."

THE SUNKEN IRON-CLAD.

O concentration of brute force! Rhinoceros of the deeps! O ugly Delos on whose shores No soft Latona sleeps!

Scant room in thee for birth or love 'Mid monsters furnace-born, The iron-throated guns above, Below, the ripping horn.

Heaven grant ere long we find in thee An emblem of all war Beneath the waves of Time's deep sea Buried for evermore!

THE MASTER'S WILL.

Two Caravels to sea were gone, Two striplings passed the city gate; A shattered hull returns alone, A brother wails a brother's fate.

But who elects for good or ill? Distrust not mercy though bereft; Though storm winds shriek the Master's will, One taken and the other left.

NOW OR NEVER.

He who loses luck abuses.

We stalked the great stag down the glen, Once more, alas! I failed to kill; Such is the lot of luckless men, Despite their energy and skill. And now he's safe beyond our ken Upon the steep and misty hill.

He'll come again, but not to-day, Where meet in one the foaming burns, While I in fortune's windy play Am tossed afar from braes and ferns, So plaineth he who throws away The happy chance that ne'er returns.

LABOUR LOST.

The roads were rock, the sky was flame, The seething mob filled strand and quay, Where came an ancient curious dame Three leagues afoot the launch to see.

Now as she stooped amid the crowd, Stooped to remove a galling stone, She heard a shouting rash and loud; She raised her head--the launch was gone.