Oh! let soft pity touch your heart! Oh! could you read my inmost soul! Though the dark grave my form shall shroud, I know, I shall behold my God; The Great Jehovah is his name! ON THE DEATH OF MY LAMENTED DAUGHTER, L. M. D. Thou art gone from among us, so lovely and fair. Through our halls sweetly echo! Still sadness is there, And gone is the tuneful choir! Oh, quench'd is that eye-beam, and quench'd is the light Of sacred "poetical fire," And that genius, which shone so resplendently bright, Hath ceased our wrapt souls to inspire! Sweet spirit of purity! where hast thou flown? To what brilliant planet-say-where is thy home? Art thou borne on the light cloud of evening along Thro' the azure expanse of heaven? Or is thy freed soul now number'd among The beautiful stars of even? The sound of thy harp-strings steal over my soul In strings so celestial the sweet numbers roll, Alas! these are visions, delusive and vain, LINES, Suggested by receiving a bouquet of rare flowers, with many other attentions, peculiarly grateful to an invalid, suffering by long confinement. Beautiful blossoms! emblems fair Of purity and truth! I love to breathe their fragrance rare, Full well I know the generous wish Impelled thee, gentle maid, to send Thy treasures from their place, Thy Father, love, who dwells on high, Amid his angel choirs, Sees from his throne beyond the sky; 'Tis the "Divinity within" Thy warm and gentle breast; When sorrow lays her blighting hand Upon thy youthful form, Dear friends, beloved, thy couch shall spread, And may that God, whose tender care LINES TO Shall I sing of a face that is blooming and fair? Shall I sing of a lofty and dignified mien, Those beautiful dimples that play round that face, Those soft, waving ringlets, so glossy and bright, Then what shall I say? shall I sing of the mind Which, within that fair, perishing form, is enshrined? Its virtues are lasting, they never decay "But grow brighter and brighter as time wears away." 'Tis the spirit divine, which to mortals is given,- FIFTY-FIFTH PSALM. Give ear unto my fervent prayer Trembling, I view the fearful path, My spirit sinks within me, Lord! My bursting heart, my aching frame, Oh! could I fly like yonder dove, Or to some thick embowering wood Or in some dreary wilderness, Would shade me from their sight: There might the frowning tempest howl, Yet why these vain inventions seek? In His protection I'll rejoice, Nor shall I trust in vain! A stranger's cold contemptuous glance But he, mine own familiar friend, He who had shared my inmost thoughts; |