LANGUAGE-FIRST EMOTIONS OF LOVE.
OUR love came as the early dew
Comes unto drooping flowers;
Dropping its first sweet freshness on
Our life's dull, lonely hours.
As each pale blossom lifts its head
Revived with blessings nightly shed
By summer breeze and dew,
O, thus our spirits rose beneath
Love's gentle dews and living breath,
To drink of life anew!
O, precious is the flower that passion brings
To his first shrine of beauty, when the heart
Runs over in devotion, and no art
Checks the free gush of the wild lay he sings;
But the rapt eye, and the impetuous thought
O, the days are gone when beauty bright
My heart chain wove;
When my dream of life, from morn till night,
Was love, still love!
New hope may bloom, and days may come
Of milder, calmer beam,
But there's nothing half so sweet in life
As love's young dream.
LANGUAGE - UNNOTICED AFFECTION.
HE came too late! neglect had tried
Her constancy too long;
Her love had yielded to her pride,
And the deep sense of wrong.
She scorned the offering of a heart
That lingered on its way,
Till it would no delight impart,
Nor spread one cheering ray.
O, no! my heart can never be
Again in lightest hopes the same;
The love that lingers there for thee
Hath more of ashes than of flame.
Unhappy he, who lets a tender heart,
Bound to him by the ties of earliest love,
Fall from him by his own neglect, and die,
Because it met no kindness.
Wilt thou sit among the ruins,
With all words of cheer unspoken,
Till the silver cord is loosened,
Till the golden bowl is broken?
WHERE may the bright flower be met
That can match with Magaret
Margaret, stately, staid, and good,
Growing up to womanhood;
Loving, thoughtful, wise, and kind,
Pure in heart and strong in mind?
Eyes deep blue, as is the sky
When the full moon sails on high,
Eyebrow true and forehead fair,
And dark, richly-braided hair,
And a queenly head, well set,
Crown my maiden Margaret.
Where's the flower that thou canst find
Match for her in form and mind?
Fair white lilies, having birth
In their native genial earth
These, in scent and queenly grace,
Match thy maiden's form and face!
LANGUAGE AFFECTION BEYOND THE GRAVE.
YEARS, years have fled, since, hushed in thy last slumber,
They laid thee down beneath the old elm tree :
But with a patient heart each day I number,
Because it brings me nearer still to thee.
Thou wert life's angel: how I loved, adored thee,
Ere death had set thy gentle spirit free!
And now thou know'st how oft I have implored thee
To bring me nearer, nearer still to thee.
Nearer to thee! To-night the stars are burning
In skies that must thy blessed dwelling be:
Thou canst not leave them, unto earth returning;
But I am pressing nearer still to thee.
Nearer to thee! I know my prayer is granted;
I know thy spirit now is close to me:
No, not in vain this hope my heart hath haunted:
Each pulsebeat brings me nearer, nearer thee.
Let me, then let me dream
That love goes with us to the shore unknown;
So o'er the burning tear a heavenly gleam
In mercy shall be thrown.
ALAS! how light a cause may move
Dissension between hearts that love! —
Hearts that the world in vain has tried,
And sorrow but more closely tied ;
That stood the storm when waves were rough,
Yet in a sunny hour fall off,
Like ships that have gone down at sea,
When heaven was all tranquillity!
A something light as air
A word unkind, or wrongly taken;
O, love that tempests never shook,
A breath, a touch, like this hath broken.
O ye, who, meeting, sigh to part,
Whose words are treasures to some heart,
Deal gently, ere the dark days come
When earth hath but for one a home;
Lest, musing o'er the past, like me,
They feel their hearts wrung bitterly;
And, heeding not what else is heard,
Dwell weeping on a careless word.
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