MOONLIGHT ON THE HUDSON. But now, bright Peri of the skies, descending Thy pearly car hangs o'er yon mountain's crest, 235 Farewell! Though tears on every leaf are starting, TO THE HUMA. A bird peculiar to the East. It is supposed to fly constantly in the air and never touch the ground.] BY L. P. SMITH. FLY on nor touch thy wing, bright bird, Too near our shaded earth, Or the warbling, now so sweetly heard, Fly on-nor seek a place of rest In the home of "care-worn things;" And thy brightly burnished wings, To dip them where the waters glide The fields of upper air are thine, Thy place where stars shine free: I would thy home, bright one, were mine, I would never wander, bird, like thee, So near this place again, TO THE HUMA. With wing and spirit once light and free- With which they are bound and fettered here, There are many things like thee, bright bird, Hopes as thy plumage gay; Our air is with them for ever stirred, But still in air they stay. And Happiness, like thee, fair one, Is ever hovering o'er, But rests in a land of brighter sun, On a waveless peaceful shore, And stoops to lave her weary wings, Where the fount of "living waters" springs. His echoing axe the settler swung Amid the sea-like solitude, And rushing, thundering, down were flung The Titans of the wood; Loud shrieked the eagle as he dashed From out his mossy nest, which crashed With its supporting bough, And the first sunlight, leaping, flashed THE SETTLER. 239 Rude was the garb, and strong the frame, Contributed their spoil; The soul that warmed that frame, disdained The paths which wound 'mid gorgeous trees, The stream whose bright lips kissed their flowers, The winds that swelled their harmonies Through those sun-hiding bowers, The temple vast—the green arcade, Dark cave and swampy lair; These scenes and sounds majestic, made His world, his pleasures, there. His roof adorned a pleasant spot, 'Mid the black logs green glowed the grain, And herbs and plants the woods knew not, Throve in the sun and rain. The smoke-wreath curling o'er the dell, All made a landscape strange, |