то

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WELCOME, dear Heart, and a most kind good-morrow;
The day is gloomy, but our looks shall shine :-
Flow'rs I have none to give thee, but I borrow
Their sweetness in a verse to speak for thine.

Here are red roses, gather'd at thy cheeks,
The white were all too happy to look white:
For love the rose, for faith the lily speaks;
It withers in false hands, but here 'tis bright!

Dost love sweet Hyacinth? Its scented leaf
Curls manifold,—all love's delights blow double :
'Tis said this flow'ret is inscribed with grief,-
But let that hint of a forgotten trouble.

I pluck'd the Primrose at night's dewy noon;
Like Hope, it show'd its blossoms in the night;-
'Twas, like Endymion, watching for the Moon!
And here are Sun-flowers, amorous of light!

These golden Buttercups are April's seal,—
The Daisy stars her constellations be:
These grew so lowly, I was forced to kneel,
Therefore I pluck no Daisies but for thee!

Here's Daisies for the morn, Primrose for gloom,
Pansies and Roses for the noontide hours :-
A wight once made a dial of their bloom,-
So may thy life be measur'd out by flow'rs!

THE FORSAKEN.

THE dead are in their silent graves,

And the dew is cold above,

And the living weep and sigh,

Over dust that once was love.

Once I only wept the dead,

But now the living cause my pain:

How couldst thou steal me from my tears,

To leave me to my tears again?

My Mother rests beneath the sod,—
Her rest is calm and very deep :

I wish'd that she could see our loves,

But now I gladden in her sleep.

Last night unbound my raven locks,
The morning saw them turn'd to gray,
Once they were black and well belov'd,

But thou art chang'd,—and so are they!

The useless lock I gave

thee once,

To gaze upon and think of me,

Was ta'en with smiles,—but this was torn

In sorrow that I send to thee!