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With a slow murmur in the trees,
And melody by fits was breaking
Upon the whisper of the breeze,
And this when I was forth, perchance,
As a worn reveller from the dance-
And when the sun sprang gloriously
And freely up, and hill and river

Were catching upon wave and tree
The subtile arrows from his quiver—
I say a voice has thrilled me then,
Heard on the still and rushing light,
Or, creeping from the silent glen
Like words from the departing night,
Hath stricken me, and I have press'd
On the wet grass my fever'd brow,
And pouring forth the earliest,

First prayer, with which I learn'd to bow,
Have felt my mother's spirit rush

Upon me as in by-past years,

And yielding to the blessed gush

Of my ungovernable tears,

Have risen up-the gay, the wild

As humble as a very child.

TO A FRIEND,

WHO COMPLAINED THAT SHE HAD NOT A HOME.

SAD and slow was the wanderer's tread,

As o'er the lengthen'd way she sped;
And often she cast a wishful eye

On the summer bower as she loiter'd by;

Or stopp'd to gather the brilliant flower
That open'd its bud to the mid-day hour.

But the gay flower died when she touch'd it near,
And the summer bower was not for her.

The lamb is housed when his game is play'd,

And the sparrow knows where her nest is made,
But the wanderer's toil is never done,
All else have a home, but she has none.
On whatever spot might her limbs recline,
She sigh'd and whisper'd, "It is not mine."
She sigh'd till she heard the warning word,
"Shall it profit thee, when it slew thy Lord?
Earth bare the thorns that pierced his brow,
Should it yield thee flowers that fade not now?
Thou wilt find, some fleeting seasons gone,
A spot of earth that is all thine own;
And none will contend for thy dark abode,
When thy spirit is gone to rejoin its God.
'T is dark-but thy Savior has shared it too,
'T was the only home that on earth he knew;
And his home in heaven is for thee to share-
Pass lightly on till thou join him there."

RESIGNATION.

O God! whose thunder shakes the sky,
Whose eye this atom-globe surveys,
To thee, my only rock, I fly,

Thy mercy in thy justice praise :

The mystic mazes of thy will,
The shadows of celestial night,
Are past the powers of human skill;
But what the Eternal does is right.

O teach me, in the trying hour,

When anguish swells the dewy tear, To still my sorrows, own thy power, Thy goodness love, thy justice fear :If in this bosom aught but thee, Encroaching, sought a boundless sway, Omniscience could the danger see, And mercy take the cause away.

Then why, my soul, dost thou complain? Why drooping seek the dark recess? Shake off the melancholy chain,

For God created all to bless.

But ah! my breast is human still;
The rising sigh, the falling tear,
My languid bosom's feeble rill,

The sickness of my soul declare.

But yet, with fortitude resign'd,

I'll thank the inflictor of the blow; Forbid the sigh, compose my mind, Nor let the gush of misery flow:The gloomy mantle of the night,

Which on my sinking spirit steals, Will vanish at the morning light, Which God, my orient sun, reveals.

PRAYER.

PRAYER is the soul's sincere desire,
Unutter'd or express'd;

The motion of a hidden fire,

That trembles in the breast.

Prayer is the burden of a sigh,
The falling of a tear;

The upward glancing of an eye,
When none but God is near.

Prayer is the simplest form of speech
That infant lips can try;

Prayer the sublimest strains that reach The Majesty on high.

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, The Christian's native air,

His watchword at the gates of death-
He enters heaven by prayer.

Prayer is the contrite sinner's voice,
Returning from his ways;
While angels in their songs rejoice,
And say, "Behold, he prays!"

The saints, in prayer, appear as one,
In word, and deed, and mind,
When with the Father and his Son
Their fellowship they find.

Nor prayer is made on earth alone:
The Holy Spirit pleads;

And Jesus, at the Eternal's throne,
For sinners intercedes.

O thou, by whom we come to God,
The Life, the Truth, the Way;
The path of prayer thyself hast trod
Lord, teach us how to pray.

A FRAGMENT FOUND IN A SKELETON CASE.

BEHOLD this ruin! 'T was a skull

Once of ethereal spirit full!

This narrow cell was life's retreat;

This space was thought's mysterious seat!
What beauteous pictures fill'd this spot!
What dreams of pleasure long forgot!
Nor love, nor joy, nor hope, nor fear,
Has left one trace of record here.

Beneath this mouldering canopy
Once shone the bright and busy eye-
But start not at the dismal void!-
If pious love that eye employ'd,
If with no lawless fire it gleam'd,

But through the dew of kindness beam'd,
That eye shall be forever bright,

When stars and suns have lost their light!

Here, in the silent cavern, hung
The ready, swift, and tuneful tongue!
If falsehood's honey it disdain'd,

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