WORK WITHOUT HOPE. LINES COMPOSED ON A DAY IN FEBRUARY. By S. T. Coleridge, Esq. ALL Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lairThe bees are stirring-birds are on the wingAnd WINTER slumbering in the open air, Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring! And I, the while, the sole unbusy thing, Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing. Yet well I ken the banks where Amaranths blow, THE POET-WARRIOR. By Allan Cunningham. 1. STAYED is the war-horse in his strength, The spell has conquered on Nithside, O did he bear a charmed sword Was forged in land of fairy. Did Saxon shaft and war axe dint Fall on charm'd mail and elfin flint? 2. His spell was valour, and he came When warrior's hearts were coldest, And poured his fire through peasant's souls, And led and ruled the boldest. He with flushed brow, and flashing eyes, And right arm bare and gory, Rushed reeking o'er the lives of men, And turned our shame to glory. A hero's soul was his, and higher The minstrel's love, and poet's fire. 3. Seek for a dark and downcast eye, A glance 'mongst men the mildest, As heaven can pour its fire. Seek him, and when thou find'st him, kneel, Though thou hadst gold spurs on thy heel. THE ROSE. By Sir Thomas E. Croft, Bart. La rose que ta main chérie Hier a sauvé de la mort, Est aujourd'hui pâle et flétrie ;— En mourant cette aimable fleur, The rose, alas! thy guardian hand Sav'd yesterday from dying, Pale, wan, and wither'd from its stem, Is now in ruins lying: But the fond flower, to shew she still Was grateful, e'en in death, Her blushes to thy cheek bequeathed, Her perfume to thy breath. TO MY CHILD. CHILD of my heart! My sweet, belov'd first-bórn! seems Cast back into her youth of endless springs !— Bewildered in divine Elysian dreams? Noyember, 1825. B. C. |