Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

LINES ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG FRIEND,

MISS

B.

Dear Mary, had thy friend the power

Thy future to control,

No shade of sorrow e'er should cloud
The "sunshine of thy soul."

Thy life should smoothly glide along
One pure unruffled stream;
With health and competence and peace,
Thy flowing cup should teem.

The morning dawns in cheerful light

Upon thy youthful head;

Oh, may a day as fair and bright
Upon its footsteps tread.

Affection's kind and fostering hand
Watched o'er thy tender youth,
And planted in thy youthful breast
The seeds of sacred truth.

Oh! let a harvest rich and rare
Spring up within thy mind,
Let Heaven-born virtue flourish there

With feelings all refined;

That when thy long and useful day

Is drawing to a close,

Not one reflection on the past

Shall ruffle thy repose.

Each sweet remembrance as it comes
Across thy dying mind,

Of passions conquered, faults redeemed,
And actions just and kind,

Shall shed a ray of peace and joy
O'er thy departing soul,
And light thy entrance to a world,
Where sin has no control.

TO CAROLINE,

ON THE EVE OF HER MARRIAGE AND DEPARTURE FOR THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

Adieu, my fair, my much loved friend,

A long, a last farewell!

May angels on your steps attend,

And every fear dispel!

May He who rules the boisterous sea,
And calms it at his word,
Your guide and guardian ever be,
Your Saviour and your Lord.

When severed is each tender tie,

Which binds your heart to home,
And when beneath a foreign sky

A wanderer you roam,

[ocr errors]

May he, the friend for whose dear love
Rich blessings you forego,
A tender guardian ever prove
In happiness or woe.

And may the sacred cause divine,
Which leads you to depart,
Impel each movement, and refine
Each feeling of your heart.

And when in heathen lands you hear
The blest Redeemer's praise,

May the glad sound your bosom cheer
the anthem raise!

While you

Should pain and sickness cloud your brow,
Then let your faith be shown:
In meek submission humbly bow
Before Jehovah's throne.

And should your weary spirit find
No resting place from pain,
No home in that far distant clime
Your weakness to sustain,

Oh! then let faith and grace combine;
Rest wholly on the Lord!

Each earthly care may you resign,-
Depending on his word:

That word which will not, cannot fail,
Though time shall pass away;
The gates of hell shall not prevail,-
'Tis firm through endless day!

TO MY DAUGHTER MARGARET, WHEN A

CHILD.

(Written on Saturday evening.)

Dear Margaret, when the morning sun
Shall gild the eastern sky,
Reflect, a Sabbath has begun,
And raise thy thoughts on high!

Let sacred contemplation fire

Thy young and ardent mind,
And may each holy theme inspire
Thy harp with songs refined.

Oh! mayst thou sing Redeeming love!
And may the anthem rise
Like incense to the courts above,
Beyond the lofty skies.

A TRIBUTE TO MY FRIEND, MRS.

Oh thou! whose gentle voice recalls
The memory of the past,

And all those soft, endearing joys,
Which were too pure to last;

When peerless daughters blessed my arms,
As lovely as thyself,

Whose smiles were dearer to my heart
Than mines of countless wealth,-

Oh! thou, whose sympathy sustained
Me, in that trying hour,

When dearest Margaret meekly bowed
To the destroyer's power;

Who like a ministering angel stood,
The tear-drop in thine eye,-
And bade me seek my darling child
Beyond the upper sky!-

What blessings shall I ask for thee?
Thou dear and gentle one!
Thy unremitting tenderness

My grateful love hath won!

Fortune hath pour'd her choicest gifts
Upon thy favoured head,

Husband and children grace thy board
And blessings on thee shed.

If e'er an aspiration rose

Within thy gentle breast,

If e'er thy heart hath form'd a wish
Thou never hast expressed;

Oh! may that power who rules on earth, According to his will,

In answer to my fervent prayer

That cherish'd wish fulfil!

« ForrigeFortsæt »