THE NUN'S ASPIRATION THE yesterday doth never smile, The day goes drudging through the while, Yet, in the name of Godhead, I The morrow front, and can defy; Though I am weak, yet God, when prayed, Cannot withhold his conquering aid. Ah me! it was my childhood's thought, Nor me can Hope or Passion urge Hearing as now the lofty dirge Which blasts of Northern mountains hymn, Nature's funeral high and dim,— Sable pageantry of clouds, Mourning summer laid in shrouds. Many a day shall dawn and die, And passing, light my sunken turf Yet wreathed and hid by summer blooms. - I die to be: Time, shake not thy bald head at me. I challenge thee to hurry past Or for my turn to fly too fast. Think me not numbed or halt with age, Realm beyond realm, -extent untold; APRIL THE April winds are magical The hedge is gemmed with diamonds, The air with Cupids full, The cobweb clues of Rosamond Guide lovers to the pool. Each dimple in the water, Each leaf that shades the rock The lore we care to know. MAIDEN SPEECH OF THE ÆOLIAN HARP SOFT and softlier hold me, friends! Thanks if your genial care Unbind and give me to the air. Keep your lips or finger-tips For flute or spinet's dancing chips; I await a tenderer touch, I ask more or not so much : Give me to the atmosphere, Where is the wind, my brother, where ? Lift the sash, lay me within, Lend me your ears, and I begin. Unlocks new sense and loftier cheer. I've come to live with you, sweet friends, The latest better than the first, For I can mend the happiest days And charm the anguish of the worst.' CUPIDO THE solid, solid universe Is pervious to Love; With bandaged eyes he never errs, His blinding light He flingeth white On God's and Satan's brood, And reconciles By mystic wiles The evil and the good. THE PAST THE debt is paid, The verdict said, The Furies laid, The plague is stayed. All fortunes made; Turn the key and bolt the door, Sweet is death forevermore. Nor haughty hope, nor swart chagrin, Nor murdering hate, can enter in. |