POSSESSION.

87

Where our children are bred to fulfil,
Not our own, but our Father's good will.
O, Home is a Nest!

William Barnes.

POSSESSION.

T was our wedding day,

A month ago, dear heart, I hear you say,
If months, or years, or ages since have

passed,

I know not: I have ceased to question Time. I only know that once there pealed a chime Of joyous bells, and then I held you fast, And all stood back, and none my right denied, And forth we walked: the world was free and wide

Before us. Since that day

I count my life: the Past is washed away.

It was no deam, that vow:

It was the voice that woke me from a dream,
A happy dream, I think; but I am waking

now,

And drink the splendor of a sun supreme

88

POSSESSION.

That turns the mist of former tears to gold. Within these arms I hold

The fleeting promise, chased so long in vain : Ah, weary bird! thou wilt not fly again; Thy wings are clipped, thou canst no more depart;

Thy nest is builded in my heart!

I was the cresent; thou

:

The silver phantom of the perfect sphere, Held in its bosom in one glory now Our lives united shine, and many a year – Not the sweet moon of bridal only

we

One lustre, ever at the full, shall be:
One pure and rounded light, one planet whole,
One life developed, one completed soul!
For I in thee, and thou in me,

Unite our cloven halves of destiny.

God knew His chosen time;

He bade me slowly ripen to my prime, And from my boughs withheld the promised

fruit,

Till storm and sun gave vigor to the root. Secure, O Love! secure

Thy blessing is: I have thee day and night; Thou art my blood, my life, my light; God's mercy thou, and therefore shalt endure! Bayard Taylor.

MY AIN KIND DEARIE O.

HEN o'er the hill the eastern star

Tells bughtin'-time' is near, my jo; And owsen frae the furrowed field, Return sae dowf3 and weary O; Down by the burn, where scented birks, Wi' dew are hanging clear, my jo, I'll meet thee on the lea-rig,* My ain kind dearie O.

In mirkest glen, at midnight hour,
I'd rove, and ne'er be eerie O,
If through that glen I gaed' to thee,
My ain kind dearie O.

Altho' the night were ne'er sae wild,
And I were ne'er sae wearie O,
I'd meet thee on the lea-rig,
My ain kind dearie O.

The hunter lo'es the morning sun,
To rouse the mountain deer, my jo;
At noon the fisher seeks the glen,
Along the burn to steer, my jo;

1 The time of collecting the sheep in the pens to be

90

MATERNITY.

Gie me the hour o' gloamin" gray,
It maks my heart sae cheery O,
To meet thee on the lea-rig,

My ain kind dearie O.

Robert Burns.

MATERNITY.

EIGH-HO! daisies and buttercups,

Fair yellow daffodils, stately and tall! When the wind wakes how they rock in the grasses,

And dance with the cuckoo-buds, slender and small!

Here's two bonny boys, and here's mother's own lasses,

Eager to gather them all,

Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups!

Mother shall thread them a daisy chain; Sing them a song of the pretty hedge-sparrow That loved her brown little ones, loved them full fain;

Sing, "Heart thou art wide, though the house be but narrow,"

Sing once, and sing it again.

1 1 Twilight.

MATERNITY.

91

Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups,

Sweet wagging cowslips, they bend and
they bow;

A ship sails afar over warm ocean waters,
And haply one musing doth stand at her

prow:

O, bonny brown sons, and, O, sweet little daughters,

Maybe he thinks on you now!

Heigh-ho! daisies and buttercups,

Fair young daffodils, stately and tall-
A sunshiny world, full of laughter and leisure,
And fresh hearts unconscious of sorrow and
thrall!

Send down on their pleasure smiles passing its