Without his plumage, Like Chiefs of Faction, His life is action A formal paction That curbs his reign, Obscures his glory, Despot no more, he Such territory Quits with disdain. Still, still advancing, With banners glancing, His power enhancing, He must move on→ Repose but cloys him, Retreat destroys him, Love brooks not a Degraded throne. THEY speak o' wiles in woman's smiles, An' ruin in her ee;" I ken they bring a pang at whiles That's unco' sair to dree;' But mind ye this, the half-ta'en kiss, Is, heaven kens, fu' sweet amends, When two leal hearts in fondness meet, Life's tempests howl in vain; Shall hapless prudence shake its pow? Oh, dinna, dinna droun the lowe That lights a heaven here! William Thom [1798?-1848] "LOVE WILL FIND OUT THE WAY” OVER the mountains And over the waves, Under the fountains And under the graves, Where there is no place For the glow-worm to lie, For receipt of a fly, Where the midge dares not venture, You may esteem him A child for his might, Or you may deem him A WOMAN'S SHORTCOMINGS :/ SHE has laughed as softly as if she sighed, Of a purse well filled, and a heart well tried- They "give her time"; for her soul must slip She trembles her fan in a sweetness dumb, Speaks common words with a blushful air, Hears bold words, unreproving; But her silence says--what she never will swearAnd love seeks better loving. Go, lady! lean to the night-guitar, Glance lightly, on their removing; But dare not call it loving! Unless you can think, when the song is done, Unless you can feel, when left by One, That all men else go with him; Unless you can know, when upraised by his breath, That your beauty itself wants proving; Unless you can swear "For life, for death!"— Unless you can muse in a crowd all day With the breadth of heaven betwixt you; Elizabeth Barrell Browning [1806-1861] "LOVE HATH A LANGUAGE” From "To My Son " 'LOVE hath a language for all years-2 |