'Tis dark; quick pattereth the flaw-blown sleet; "This is no dream, my bride, my Madeline!" "T is dark; the iced gusts still rave and beat : "No dream, alas! alas! and woe is mine! Porphyro will leave me here to fade and pine. Cruel! what traitor could thee hither bring? I curse not, for my heart is lost in thine, Though thou forsakest a deceived thing; A dove forlorn and lost, with sick, unpruned wing."
THOU HAST SWORN BY THY GOD, MY | Sprinkled with pearl, and pearling flowers atween,
THOU hast sworn by thy God, my Jeanie, By that pretty white hand o' thine, And by a' the lowing stars in heaven,
That thou wad aye be mine!
And I hae sworn by my God, my Jeanie, And by that kind heart o' thine,
By a' the stars sown thick owre heaven, That thou shalt aye be mine?
Then foul fa' the hands that wad loose sic bands, And the heart that wad part sic luve ! But there's nae hand can loose my band, But the finger o' Him abuve.
Though the wee, wee cot maun be my bield, And my claithing ne'er sae mean,
I wad lap me up rich i' the faulds o' luve, — Heaven's armfu' o' my Jean.
Her white arm wad be a pillow for me,
Fu' safter than the down;
Do like a golden mantle her attire ; And being crowned with a garland green, Seem like some maiden queen.
Her modest eyes, abashéd to behold So many gazers as on her do stare, Upon the lowly ground affixéd are; Ne dare lift up her countenance too bold, But blush to hear her praises sung so loud, So far from being proud.
Nathless do ye still loud her praises sing, That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring. Tell me, ye merchants' daughters, did ye see So fair a creature in your town before? So sweet, so lovely, and so mild as she, Adorned with Beauty's grace and Virtue's store? Her goodly eyes like sapphires, shining bright Her forehead ivory white,
Her cheeks like apples which the sun hath rudded, Her lips like cherries charming men to bite, Her breast like to a bowl of cream uncrudded, Her paps like lilies budded,
And Luve wad winnow owre us his kind, kind. Her snowy neck like to a marble tower;
And sweetly I'd sleep, and soun'.
Come here to me, thou lass o' my luve ! Come here and kneel wi' me!
The morn is fu' o' the presence o' God, And I canna pray without thee.
The morn wind is sweet 'mang the beds o' new flowers,
The wee birds sing kindlie and hie;
Our gudeman leans owre his kale-yard dike, And a blythe auld bodie is he.
The Beuk maun be ta'en whan the carle comes
Wi' the holy psalmodie;
And thou maun speak o' me to thy God,
And I will speak o' thee.
Lo! where she comes along with portly pace, Like Phoebe from her chamber of the east, Arising forth to run her mighty race, Clad all in white, that seems a virgin best. So well it her beseems, that ye would ween Some angel she had been.
Her long, loose yellow locks, like golden wire,
And all her body like a palace fair, Ascending up with many a stately stair To Honor's seat and Chastity's sweet bower. Why stand ye still, ye virgins, in amaze, Upon her so to gaze,
Whilst ye forget your former lay to sing, To which the woods did answer, and your echo ring.
THERE are who say the lover's heart Is in the loved one's merged;
O, never by love's own warm art So cold a plea was urged!
No!-hearts that love hath crowned or crossed,
Love fondly knits together;
But not a thought or hue is lost
That made a part of either.
It is an ill-told tale that tells
Of "hearts by love made one"; He grows who near another's dwells More conscious of his own;
In each spring up new thoughts and powers That, mid love's warm, clear weather, Together tend like climbing flowers, And, turning, grow together.
MINE eyes he closed, but open left the cell Of fancy, my internal sight, by which Abstract, as in a trance, methought I saw, Though sleeping, where I lay, and saw the shape Still glorious before whom awake I stood; Who, stooping, opened my left side, and took From thence a rib, with cordial spirits warm, And life-blood streaming fresh; wide was the wound,
But suddenly with flesh filled up and healed: The rib he formed and fashioned with his hands ; Under his forming hands a creature grew, Manlike, but different sex, so lovely fair, That what seemed fair in all the world seemed
Mean, or in her summed up, in her contained And in her looks, which from that time infused Sweetness into my heart, unfelt before, And into all things from her air inspired The spirit of love and amorous delight. She disappeared, and left me dark; I waked To find her, or forever to deplore
Her loss, and other pleasures all abjure : When out of hope, behold her, not far off, Such as I saw her in my dream, adorned With what all earth or Heaven could bestow To make her amiable. On she came, Led by her heavenly Maker, though unseen, And guided by his voice, nor uninformed Of nuptial sanctity and marriage rites : Grace was in all her steps, Heaven in her eye, In every gesture dignity and love.
I, overjoyed, could not forbear aloud :
Giver of all things fair, but fairest this Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now see Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself Before me; Woman is her name, of man Extracted for this cause he shall forego Father and mother, and to his wife adhere; And they shall be one flesh, one heart, one soul.' She heard me thus, and though divinely brought,
Yet innocence and virgin modesty,
Her virtue and the conscience of her worth, That would be wooed, and not unsought be
Not obvious, not obtrusive, but retired, The more desirable; or, to say all, Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought, Wrought in her so, that, seeing me, she turned: I followed her; she what was honor knew, And with obsequious majesty approved My pleaded reason. To the nuptial bower I led her blushing like the morn: all Heaven, And happy constellations on that hour Shed their selectest influence; the earth Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill; Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs Whispered it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, flung odors from the spicy shrub, Disporting, till the amorous bird of night Sung spousal, and bid haste the evening star On his hill-top, to light the bridal lamp.
Her loveliness, so absolute she seems, And in herself complete, so well to know Her own, that what she wills to do or say Seems wisest, virtuousest, discreetest, best; All higher knowledge in her presence falls | Degraded, wisdom in discourse with her Loses discountenanced, and like folly shows; Authority and reason on her wait, As one intended first, not after made Occasionally; and, to consummate all, Greatness of mind and nobleness their seat Build in her loveliest, and create an awe About her, as a guard angelic placed.”
So much delights me, as those graceful acts, Those thousand decencies that daily flow From all her words and actions, mixed with love And sweet compliance, which declare unfeigned Union of mind, or in us both one soul;
"This turn hath made amends; thou hast Harmony to behold in wedded pair
Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign,
More grateful than harmonious sound to the ear.
And though many suitors sought her, She so loved Glengariff's water
That she let her lovers pine.
Her eye was beauty's palace,
And her cheek an ivory chalice, Through which the blood of Alice
Gleamed soft as rosiest wine,
And her lips like lusmore blossoms which the fairies intertwine,
And her heart a golden mine.
She was gentler and shyer
Than the light fawn which stood by her, And her eyes emit a fire
Soft and tender as her soul;
Love's dewy light doth drown her,
And the braided locks that crown her
Than autumn's trees are browner,
When the golden shadows roll
Along Glengariff's sea;
And crowds in many a galley To the happy marriage rally Of the maiden of the valley
And the youth of Céim-an-eich;
Old eyes with joy are weeping, as all ask on bended knee,
A blessing, gentle Alice, upon thee.
DENIS FLORENCE MACCARTHY.
TO A LADY BEFORE MARRIAGE.
O, FORMED by Nature, and refined by Art, With charms to win, and sense to fix the heart! By thousands sought, Clotilda, canst thou free Thy crowd of captives and descend to me? Content in shades obscure to waste thy life, A hidden beauty and a country wife?
O, listen while thy summers are my theme! Ah! soothe thy partner in his waking dream! In some small hamlet on the lonely plain, Where Thames through meadows rolls his mazy train,
Or where high Windsor, thick with greens arrayed, Through the forests in the evening, when cathe-Waves his old oaks, and spreads his ample shade
And the purple sun advanceth to its goal.
Her cottage was a dwelling All regal homes excelling, But, ah! beyond the telling Was the beauty round it spread,
The wave and sunshine playing, Like sisters each arraying,
Far down the sea-plants swaying
Upon their coral bed,
Fancy has figured out our calm retreat; Already round the visionary seat
Our limes begin to shoot, our flowers to spring, The brooks to murmur, and the birds to sing. Where dost thou lie, thou thinly peopled green, Thou nameless lawn, and village yet unseen, Where sons, contented with their native ground, Ne'er travelled further than ten furlongs round, And the tanned peasant and his ruddy bride Were born together, and together died, Where early larks best tell the morning light,
And languid as the tresses on a sleeping maiden's And only Philomel disturbs the night?
When the summer breeze is dead.
Need we say that Maurice loved her, And that no blush reproved her, When her throbbing bosom moved her To give the heart she gave?
That by dawn-light and by twilight, And, O blessed moon, by thy light, - When the twinkling stars on high light The wanderer o'er the wave,
Midst gardens here my humble pile shall rise, With sweets surrounded of ten thousand dyes; All savage where th' embroidered gardens end, The haunt of echoes, shall my woods ascend; And oh! if Heaven th' ambitious thought approve, A rill shall warble 'cross the gloomy grove, A little rill, o'er pebbly beds conveyed, Gush down the steep, and glitter through the glade. What cheering scents these bordering banks exhale! How loud that heifer lows from yonder vale! That thrush how shrill! his note so clear, so high, He drowns each feathered minstrel of the sky.
His steps unconscious led him where Glengariff's Here let me trace beneath the purpled morn
Each mossy bank and cave.
The deep-mouthed beagle and the sprightly horn, Or lure the trout with well-dissembled flies, Or fetch the fluttering partridge from the skies. Nor shall thy hand disdain to crop the vine, The downy peach, or flavored nectarine; Or rob the beehive of its golden hoard, And bear th' unbought luxuriance to thy board.
No grape that 's kindly ripe could be So round, so plump, so soft as she, Nor half so full of juice.
Her finger was so small, the ring Would not stay on which they did bring, It was too wide a peck; And, to say truth, for out it must, It looked like the great collar — just - About our young colt's neck.
Her feet beneath her petticoat, Like little mice, stole in and out, As if they feared the light; But O, she dances such a way! No sun upon an Easter-day Is half so fine a sight.
Her cheeks so rare a white was on, No daisy makes comparison;
Who sees them is undone ; For streaks of red were mingled there, Such as are on a Cath'rine pear,
The side that's next the sun.
Her lips were red; and one was thin, Compared to that was next her chin.
Some bee had stung it newly; But, Dick, her eyes so guard her face, I durst no more upon them gaze, Than on the sun in July.
Her mouth so small, when she does speak, Thou'dst swear her teeth her words did break, That they might passage get;
But she so handled still the matter, They came as good as ours, or better, And are not spent a whit.
HEBREW WEDDING.
To the sound of timbrels sweet Moving slow our solemn feet, We have borne thee on the road To the virgin's blest abode; With thy yellow torches gleaming, And thy scarlet mantle streaming, And the canopy above Swaying as we slowly move.
Thou hast left the joyous feast,
And the mirth and wine have ceased; And now we set thee down before
The jealously unclosing door, That the favored youth admits Where the veiléd virgin sits In the bliss of maiden fear, Waiting our soft tread to hear,
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