Now too I hear Of whisper'd sounds the tale complete, A sea before The Throne is spread: its pure still glass Share, in the bosom of our rest, HARRIET MARTINEAU. 1802-1876. BENEATH THE ARCH. Beneath this starry arch Nought resteth or is still; As if by one great Will : Moves one, move all hark to the foot-fall! On, on, forever! Yon sheaves were once but seed; Will ripens into deed; As cave-drops swell the streams, Day-thoughts feed nightly dreams; As echo follows song: On, on, forever! By night, like stars on high, The Hours reveal their train; They whisper, and go by: I never watch in vain. Moves one, move all hark to the foot-fall! On, on, forever! They pass the cradle-head, And there a promise shed; They pass the moist new grave, The harvests of all time On, on, forever! THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES. 1803-1849. SONG OF THE STYGIAN NAIADS. Prosperine may pull her flowers, If Pluto be an amorous king, Where the Furies made their hay A great fly of Beelzebub's, The bee of hearts, which mortals name Cupid, Love, and Fie-for-shame. Proserpine may weep in rage, But, ere I and you have done Kissing, bathing in the sun, What I have in yonder cage, Bird or serpent, wild or tame, She shall guess and ask in vain : But if Pluto does it again, It shall sing out loud his shame. What hast caught then? what hast caught? Nothing but a poet's thought Which so light did fall and fix Where the Furies made their hay A great fly of Beelzebub's,— The bee of hearts, which mortals name Cupid, Love, and Fie-for-shame. HOW MANY TIMES? How many times do I love thee? Dear! Of a new-fallen year, Whose white and sable hours appear How many times do I love, again? Of evening rain Unraveled from the trembling main SEA SONG. To sea to sea! The calm is o'er : And rattles down the pebbly shore; The dolphin wheels, the sea-cows snort, And unseen mermaids' pearly song Fling broad the sail! dip deep the oar! To sea! to sea! our wide-wing'd bark RICHARD HENGIST HORNE. GENIUS. Far out at sea,-the sun was high, Far out at sea. The little wanderer, who had lost Far out at sea. Above, there gleam'd the boundless sky; Beneath, the boundless ocean sheen; Between them danced the butterfly, The spirit-life of this vast scene, Far out at sea, The tiny soul then soar'd away, Seeking the clouds on fragile wings, Which hope's ecstatic morning brings, Far out at sea. Away he sped with shimmering glee, He dies, unlike his mates, I ween, Far out at sea. THE LAUREL-SEED. Marmora findit. I. A despot gazed on sun-set clouds, Year upon year, all night and day, They toil'd, they died—and were replaced; At length a marble fabric rose, With cloud-like domes and turrets graced. No anguish of those herds of slaves E'er shook one dome or wall asunder, Nor wars of other mighty Kings, Nor lustrous javelins of the thunder. II. One sunny morn a lonely bird Pass'd o'er, and dropt a laurel-seed; The plant sprang up amidst the walls Whose chinks were full of moss and weed. The laurel tree grew large and strong, |