SONGS. N a drear-nighted December, Thy branches ne'er remember The north cannot undo them With a sleety whistle through them; In a drear-nighted December, But with a sweet forgetting, About the frozen time. Ah! would 'twere so with many To know the change and feel it, HUSH, HUSH!! I. USH, hush! Tread softly! hush, hush, my dear! All the house is asleep, but we know very well That the jealous, the jealous old bald-pate may hear, Tho' you've padded his night-cap-O sweet Isabel! Tho' your feet are more light than a Faery's feet, Who dances on bubbles where brooklets meet, Hush, hush! soft tiptoe! hush, hush, my dear! For less than a nothing the jealous can hear. II. No leaf doth tremble, no ripple is there On the river,-all's still, and the night's sleepy eye Closes up, and forgets all its Lethean care, Charm'd to death by the drone of the humming May-fly; And the moon, whether prudish or com. plaisant, Has fled to her bower, well knowing I want No light in the dusk, no torch in the gloom, But my Isabel's eyes and her lips pulp'd with bloom. II. Lift the latch! ah gently! ah tenderly-sweet! We are dead if that latchet gives one little clink! First printed in the "Literary Pocket-book and Companion for the Lovers of Nature and Art," for 1818. Well done!-now those lips, and a flowery seatThe old man may sleep, and the planets may wink; The shut rose shall dream of our loves and awake Full-blown, and such warmth for the morning take, The stock-dove shall hatch his soft twin-eggs and .coo, While I kiss to the melody, aching all through! 1818. FAERY SONGS. I. HED no tear! oh shed no tear! core. Dry your eyes! oh dry your eyes! To ease my breast of melodies Shed no tear. Overhead! look overhead! 'Mong the blossoms white and red- I vanish in the heaven's blue Adieu! Adieu! II. PIRIT here that reignest! My forehead low, Enshaded with thy pinions! All passion-struck, Into thy pale dominions! Spirit here that laughest! I join in the glee, While nudging the elbow of Momus! With a Bacchanal blush, Just fresh from the banquet of Comus! III. H! woe is me! poor Silver-wing! And death to this fair haunt of spring, That I must see These blossoms snow upon thy lady's pall' Go, pretty page, and in her ear Go, pretty page! and soothly tell,- That now in vain are weeping their last tears SONG OF FOUR FAIRIES. FIRE, AIR, EARTH, AND WATER, SALAMANDER, ZEPHYR, DUSKETHA, AND BREAMA. Salamander. APPY, happy glowing fire! Zep: Fragrant air! delicious light. Sal. Happy, happy glowing fire! Of men, and beasts, and fish, and apes, |