And in the empire of thine heart, And go on such a score, But if thou wilt prove faithful then, And famous by my sword; I'll serve thee in such noble ways Was never heard before, I'll crown and deck thee all with bays, JAMES GRAHAM, MARQUESS OF MONTROSE. LOVE AND TIME. Two pilgrims from the distant plain But speaks no word by night or day. Where'er the old man treads, the grass Fast fadeth with a certain doom; But where the beauteous boy doth pass Unnumbered flowers are seen to bloom. While passing by your mother's door, It was that dear, delicious hour When Owen here the nosegay brought, And found you in the woodbine bower, Since then, indeed, I've needed naught." A blush steals over Norah's face, As if the moon were shining now; The boy beholds the pleasing pain, The sweet confusion he has done, And shakes the crystal glass again, And makes the sands more quickly run. "Dear Norah, we are pilgrims, bound Upon an endless path sublime; We pace the green earth round and round, And mortals call us LOVE and TIME; He seeks the many, I the few; I dwell with peasants, he with kings. We seldom meet; but when we do, I take his glass, and he my wings. "And thus together on we go, Where'er I chance or wish to lead; And Time, whose lonely steps are slow, Now sweeps along with lightning speed. Now on our bright predestined way We must to other regions pass ; But take this gift, and night and day Look well upon its truthful glass. "How quick or slow the bright sands fall Is hid from lovers' eyes alone, If you can see them move at all, Be sure your heart has colder grown. "T is coldness makes the glass grow dry, The icy hand, the freezing brow; But warm the heart and breathe the sigh, LOVE. And then they'll pass you know not how." She took the glass where Love's warm hands A bright impervious vapor cast, She looks, but cannot see the sands, Although she feels they 're falling fast. But cold hours came, and then, alas ! She saw them falling frozen through, Till Love's warm light suffused the glass, And hid the loosening sands from view! DENIS FLORENCE MACCARTHY. 151 FLY TO THE DESERT, FLY WITH ME. SONG OF NOURMAHAL IN "THE LIGHT OF THE HAREM." "FLY to the desert, fly with me, But oh the choice what heart can doubt "Our rocks are rough, but smiling there "Our sands are bare, but down their slope The silvery-footed antelope As gracefully and gayly springs As o'er the marble courts of kings. -- "Then come, thy Arab maid will be "Oh! there are looks and tones that dart "As if the very lips and eyes "So came thy every glance and tone, "Then fly with me, if thou hast known "Come, if the love thou hast for me "But if for me thou dost forsake But breathing, as it did, a tone As if 't were fixed by magic there, Hadst thou but sung this witching strain, I could forget forgive thee all, And never leave those eyes again." I said to the lily, "There is but one She is weary of dance and play." Low on the sand and loud on the stone I said to the rose, "The brief night goes But mine, but mine," so I sware to the rose, "For ever and ever mine!" And the soul of the rose went into my blood, And long by the garden lake I stood, For I heard your rivulet fall From the lake to the meadow and on to the wood, Our wood, that is dearer than all; From the meadow your walks have left so sweet That whenever a March-wind sighs, He sets the jewel-print of your feet In violets blue as your eyes, To the woody hollows in which we meet, The slender acacia would not shake One long milk-bloom on the tree; The white lake-blossom fell into the lake, As the pimpernel dozed on the lea ; But the rose was awake all night for your sake, Knowing your promise to me; The lilies and roses were all awake, Queen rose of the rosebud garden of girls, Shine out, little head, sunning over with curls, |