Or held, by Solomon's own invitation, A torch at the great Temple's dedication. I need not ask thee if that hand, when armed, Has any Roman soldier mauled and knuckled; For thou wert dead, and buried, and embalmed, Ere Romulus and Remus had been suckled; Antiquity appears to have begun Long after thy primeval race was run. Thou could'st develop - if that withered tongue Might tell us what those sightless orbs have seen How the world looked when it was fresh and young, And the great Deluge still had left it green; [pages Or was it then so old that history's Contained no record of its early ages? Still silent, incommunicative elf! Art sworn to secrecy? then keep thy vows; But prythee tell us something of thyself Reveal the secrets of thy prisonhouse; Since in the world of spirits thou hast slumbered What hast thou seen-what strange adventures numbered? Since first thy form was in this box Why should this worthless tegument IF. MAY RILEY SMITH. IF, sitting with this little worn-out shoe And scarlet stocking lying on my knee, I knew his little feet had pattered through The pearl-set gates that lie 'twixt heaven and me, I should be reconciled and happy too, And look with glad eyes toward the jasper sea. If, in the morning, when the song of birds, Reminds me of lost music far more sweet, I listened for his pretty broken words, And for the music of his dimpled feet, I could be almost happy, though I heard No answer, and I saw his vacant And if some friend we love is lying We could interpret all this doubt and low, If we could push ajar the gates of And stand within and all God's I workings see, CAROLINE BOWLES SOUTHEY. LAUNCH THY BARK, MARINER. LAUNCH thy bark, mariner! So let the vessel wear, There swept the blast. What of the night, watchman ? What of the night? "Cloudy, all quiet, No land yet, - all's right." At an hour when all seemeth How! gains the leak so fast? |