If no brother's sorrow thou canst lighten That hymn for which the whole world By daily sympathy and gentle tone. longs, A worthy hymn in woman's praise; The best half of creation's best, Its heart to feel, its eye to see, The crown and complex of the rest, Its aim and its epitome. Yet now it is my chosen task To sing her worth as maid and wife; And were such post to seek, I'd ask To live her laureate all my life. On wings of love uplifted free, And by her gentleness made great, I'd teach how noble man should be, To match with such a lovely mate; Until (for who may hope too much From her who wields the powers of love), Our lifted lives at last should touch That lofty goal to which they move: Until we find, as darkness rolls Far off, and fleshly mists dissolve, That nuptial contrasts are the poles On which the heavenly spheres revolve. THE CHASE. SHE wearies with an ill unknown; Within a lonely castle-moat; Within the crescent's gleaming arms, The present shows her heedless eyes A future dim with vague alarms: She sees, and yet she scarcely sees; For, life-in-life not yet begun, Too many are life's mysteries For thought to fix t'ward any one. She's told that maidens are by youths Extremely honored and desired; Andsighs, "If those sweet tales be truths, What bliss to be so much admired!” The suitors come; she sees them grieve; Her coldness fills them with despair: She'd pity if she could believe; She's sorry that she cannot care. Who's this that meets her on her way? He cannot pass, and there an end. His heart on worth that answers his? LETITIA E. LANDON. Perhaps he's come to worship her: Advancing stepless, quick, and still, Then terrifies with dreadful strides: At first, there's nothing to resist : He fights with all the forms of peace; He comes about her like a mist, With subtle, swift, unseen increase; And then, unlooked for, strikes amain Some stroke that frightens her to death; And grows all harmlessness again, Ere she can cry, or get her breath. At times she stops, and stands at bay; But he, in all more strong than she, Subdues her with his pale dismay, Or more admired audacity. All people speak of him with praise: How wise his talk; how sweet his tone; What manly worship in his gaze! It nearly makes her heart his own. Ah, whither shall a maiden flee, With hope perseverant, still renews! She makes it more, with bashful art, The gallant credit he accords To all the signs of good in her, Redeems itself; his praiseful words What they attribute still confer. Her heart is thrice as rich in bliss, She's three times gentler than before: He gains a right to call her his, Now she through him is so much more! Ah, might he, when by doubts aggrieved, Behold his tokens next her breast, 253 At all his words and sighs perceived Against its blithe upheaval pressed. But still she flies: should she be won, It must not be believed or thought She yields: she's chased to death, undone, Surprised, and violently caught. THE LOVER. He meets, by heavenly chance express, Which others cannot understand. To match the promise in her eyes, And round her happy footsteps blow The authentic airs of Paradise. The least is well, yet nothing's light Her virtue all virtue so endears, LETITIA E. LANDON. THE SHEPHERD-BOY. LIKE some vision olden Of far other time, O lonely shepherd-boy, Or art thou complaining Of thy lowly lot, And thine own disdaining, Dost ask what thou hast not? For the present scheming, I tell ye, banks of Krumley, ALICE CAREY. "T is not your sunny days That set your meadows up and down With blossoms all ablaze. The flowers that love her crowd to bloom O dim and dewy Krumley, O bold, bold winds of Krumley, O flower and bird, O wave and wind, 255 |