HESTER.

I've wandered east, I've wandered west,
I've borne a weary lot;

But in my wanderings, far or near,

Ye never were forgot.

The fount that first burst frae this heart

Still travels on its way;

And channels deeper, as it rins,

The luve o' life's young day.

O dear, dear Jeanie Morrison,
Since we were sindered young
I've never seen your face, nor heard
The music o' your tongue;

But I could hug all wretchedness,

And happy could I dee,

Did I but ken your heart still dreamed

O' bygane days and me!

WILLIAM MOTHERWELL.

HESTER.

WHEN maidens such as Hester die,
Their place ye may not well supply,
Though ye among a thousand try,
With vain endeavor.

A month or more hath she been dead,
Yet cannot I by force be led
To think upon the wormy bed
And her, together.

HESTER.

A springy motion in her gait,
A rising step, did indicate

Of pride and joy no common rate,
That flushed her spirit;

I know not by what name beside
I shall it call:-if 'twas not pride,
It was a joy to that allied,
She did inherit.

Her parents held the Quaker rule,
Which doth the human feeling cool;
But she was trained in Nature's school;
Nature had blessed her.

A waking eye, a prying mind,

A heart that stirs, is hard to bind;
A hawk's keen sight ye cannot blind;
Ye could not Hester.

My sprightly neighbor, gone before
To that unknown and silent shore!
Shall we not meet, as heretofore,
Some summer morning,

When from thy cheerful eyes a ray
Hath struck a bliss upon the day:
A bliss that would not go away,
A sweet forewarning?

CHARLES LAMB.

THE FAIREST THING IN MORTAL EYES.

To make my lady's obsequies,

My love a minster wrought;
And, in the chantry, service there
Was sung by doleful thought.
The tapers were of burning sighs,
That light and odor gave;

And sorrows, painted o'er with tears,
Enlumined her grave;

And round about, in quaintest guise,

Was carved: "Within this tomb there lies The fairest thing in mortal eyes."

Above her lieth spread a tomb,

Of gold and sapphires blue:
The gold doth show her blessedness,
The sapphires mark her true;
For blessedness and truth in her
Were livelily portrayed,

When gracious God with both His hands

Her goodly substance made.

He framed her in such wondrous wise,

She was, to speak without disguise,

The fairest thing in mortal eyes.

A DEATH-BED.

No more, no more! my heart doth faint
When I the life recall

Of her, who lived so free from taint,
So virtuous deemed by all,
That in herself was so complete,

I think that she was ta'en
By God to deck His paradise,

And with his saints to reign;

Whom, while on earth, each one did prize
The fairest thing in mortal eyes.

But naught our tears avail, or cries:

All soon or late in death shall sleep;

Nor living wight long time may keep
The fairest thing in mortal eyes.

CHARLES, DUKE OF ORLEANS. (French.)

Translation of Rev. HENRY FRANCIS CARY.

A DEATH-BED.

HER suffering ended with the day;

Yet lived she at its close,

And breathed the long, long night away,

In statue-like repose.

But when the sun, in all his state,

Illumed the eastern skies,

She passed through Glory's morning-gate,

And walked in Paradise!

JAMES ALDRICH.

ANNABEL LEE.

It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,

That a maiden lived, whom you may know,

By the name of Annabel Lee;

And this maiden she lived with no other thought

Than to love, and be loved by, me.

I was a child, and she was a child,

In this kingdom by the sea;

But we loved with a love that was more than love,

I and my Annabel Lee:

With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,

In this kingdom by the sea,

A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling

My beautiful Annabel Lee;

So that her high-born kinsmen came, from me,

And bore her away

To shut her up in a sepulchre

In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not so happy in heaven,

Went envying her and me.

Yes! that was the reason (as all men know),
In this kingdom by the sea,