THE WASP AND THE HORNET. THE two proud sisters of the sea, Their broad, unsculptured tomb! No stranger-hand their banners furled, No victor's shout they heard; Unseen, above them ocean curled, Save by his own pale bird; The gnashing billows heaved and fell; Wild shrieked the midnight gale; Far, far beneath the morning swell Were pennon, spar, and sail. The land of Freedom! Sea and shore Are guarded now, as when Her ebbing waves to victory bore Fair barks and gallant men; O many a ship of prouder name May wave her starry fold, Nor trail, with deeper light of fame, The paths they swept of old! FROM A BACHELOR'S PRIVATE JOURNAL. SWEET Mary, I have never breathed Once more the pulse of Nature glows And is there none with me to share The glories of the earth and sky? The eagle through the pathless air Ah no! the cradled flowers may wake, Again may flow the frozen sea, From every cloud a star may break, There comes no second Spring to me. 60 FROM A BACHELOR'S PRIVATE JOURNAL. Go,ere the painted toys of youth years; Are crushed beneath the tread of Go,- for I will not bid thee weep, Too soon my sorrows will be thine, If Heaven can hear the dying tone The Of chords that soon will cease to thrill, May bless thee when those chords are still! STANZAS. STRANGE! that one lightly-whispered tone Than all the sounds that kiss the earth, But, lady, when thy voice I greet, I look upon the fair blue skies, And nought but empty air I see; But when I turn me to thine eyes, It seemeth unto me Ten thousand angels spread their wings The lily hath the softest leaf That ever western breeze hath fanned, But thou shalt have the tender flower, So I may take thy hand; That little hand to me doth yield More joy than all the broidered field. |