POEMS

THE LEE-SHORE.

M

SLEET! and Hail! and Thunder! And ye Winds that rave,

Till the sands thereunder

Tinge the sullen wave—

Winds, that like a Demon,
Howl with horrid note
Round the toiling Seaman,
In his tossing boat-

From his humble dwelling,
On the shingly shore,
Where the billows swelling,
Keep such hollow roar—

From that weeping Woman,

Seeking with her cries, Succor superhuman

From the frowning skies

From the Urchin pining

For his Father's kneeFrom the lattice shining, Drive him out to sea!

Let broad leagues dissever Him from yonder foam ;Oh, God! to think Man ever Comes too near his Home!

THE DEATH-BED.

WE watch'd her breathing thro' the night,
Her breathing soft and low,

As in her breast the wave of life
Kept heaving to and fro.

So silently we seem'd to speak,

So slowly mov'd about,

As we had lent her half our powers

To eke her living out.

Our very hopes belied our fears,
Our fears our hopes belied-
We thought her dying when she slept,
And sleeping when she died.

For when the morn came dim and sad,
And chill with early showers,

Her quiet eyelids clos'd-she had

Another morn than ours.

TO MY DAUGHTER.

ON HER BIRTHDAY.

DEAR Fanny! nine long years ago,
While yet the morning sun was low,
And rosy with the eastern glow.
The landscape smil'd;

Whilst low'd the newly-waken'd herds-
Sweet as the early song of birds,
I heard those first, delightful words,
"Thou hast a child!"

Along with that uprising dew

Tears glisten'd in my eyes, though few,

To hail a dawning quite as new

To me, as Time:

It was not sorrow-not annoy-
But like a happy maid, though coy,

With grief-like welcome, even Joy
Forestalls its prime.

So may'st thou live, dear! many years, In all the bliss that life endears,

Not without smiles, nor yet from tears

Too strictly kept :