THE SIESTA. (FROM THE SPANISH.) Vientecico murmurador, AIRS, that wander and murmur round, While my lady sleeps in the shade below. Lighten and lengthen her noonday rest, Till the heat of the noonday sun is o'er. Sweet be her slumbers! though in my breast The pain she has waked may slumber no more. Breathing soft from the blue profound, Bearing delight where'er ye blow, Make in the elms a lulling sound, While my lady sleeps in the shade below. Airs! that over the bending boughs, And under the shade of pendent leaves, Murmur soft, like my timid vows Or the secret sighs my bosom heaves, 142 THE SIESTA. Gently sweeping the grassy ground, Bearing delight where'er ye blow, While my lady sleeps in the shade below FROM THE SPANISH OF PEDRO DE CASTRO Y ANAYA. STAY, rivulet, nor haste to leave The lovely vale that lies around thee. Why wouldst thou be a sea at eve, When but a fount the morning found thee? Born when the skies began to glow, Humblest of all the rock's cold daughters, No blossom bowed its stalk to show Now on thy stream the noonbeams look, Its crystal from the clearest brook, Its rushing current from the swiftest. Ah! what wild haste !-and all to be To that vast grave with quicker motion. 144 FROM THE SPANISH. Far better 'twere to linger still In this green vale, these flowers to cherish, And die in peace, an aged rill, Than thus, a youthful Danube, perish. THE COUNT OF GREIERS. (FROM THE GERMAN.) AT morn the Count of Greiers before his castle stands ; "Oh, greenest of the valleys, how shall I come to thee! He hears a sound of timbrels, and suddenly appear The youngest of the maidens, slim as a spray of spring, ring; They fling upon his forehead a crown of mountain flowers, "And ho, young Count of Greiers! this morning thou art ours!" |