What landscapes I read in the primrose's looks, And what pictures of pebbled and minnowy brooks, In the vetches that tangled their shore!

Earth's cultureless buds, to my heart ye were dear, Ere the fever of passion, or ague of fear,

Had scathed my.existence's bloom;

Once I welcome you more, in life's passionless stage,
With the visions of youth to revisit my age,
And I wish you to grow on my tomb.

SONG.

TO THE EVENING STAR.

STAR that bringest home the bee,
And sett'st the weary laborer free!
If any star shed peace, 't is thou,
That send'st it from above,
Appearing when Heaven's breath and brow
Are sweet as hers we love.

Come to the luxuriant skies,

Whilst the landscape's odors rise,

Whilst far-off lowing herds are heard,
And songs when toil is done,
From cottages whose smoke unstirred
Curls yellow in the sun.

Star of love's soft interviews,
Parted lovers on thee muse;

Their remembrancer in Heaven
Of thrilling vows thou art,
Too delicious to be riven

By absence from the heart.

STANZAS TO PAINTING.

O THOU by whose expressive art
Her perfect image Nature sees
In union with the Graces start,

And sweeter by reflection please!

In whose creative hand the hues
Fresh from yon orient rainbow shine;

I bless thee, Promethéan muse !

And call thee brightest of the Nine!

Possessing more than vocal power,
Persuasive more than poet's tongue;
Whose lineage, in a raptured hour,

From Love, the Sire of Nature, sprung;

Does Hope her high possession meet?
Is joy triumphant, sorrow flown?
Sweet is the trance, the tremor sweet,
When all we love is all our own.

But, O! thou pulse of pleasure dear, Slow throbbing, cold, I feel thee part; Long absence plants a pang severe,

Or death inflicts a keener dart.

Then for a beam of joy to light

In memory's sad and wakeful eye!
Or banished from the noon of night
Her dreams of deeper agony.

Shall Song its witching cadence roll?
Yea, even the tenderest air repeat,
That breathed when soul was knit to soul,
And heart to heart responsive beat?

What visions rise, to charm, to melt!
The lost, the loved, the dead are near!
O, hush that strain too deeply felt! .
And cease that solace too severe !

But thou, serenely silent Art!

By heaven and love wast taught to lend A milder solace to the heart,

The sacred image of a friend.

All is not lost! if, yet possest,
To me that sweet memorial shine:
If close and closer to my breast
I hold that idol all divine.

Or, gazing through luxurious tears,
Melt o'er the loved departed form,
Till death's cold bosom half appears
With life, and speech, and spirit warm.

She looks she lives! this trancéd hour,
Her bright eye seems a purer gem
Than sparkles on the throne of power,
Or glory's wealthy diadem.

Yes, Genius, yes! thy mimic aid
A treasure to my soul has given,
Where beauty's canonizéd shade

Smiles in the sainted hues of heaven.

No spectre forms of pleasure fled

Thy softening, sweetening tints restore; For thou canst give us back the dead, E'en in the loveliest looks they wore.

Then blest be Nature's guardian Muse, Whose hand her perished grace redeems! Whose tablet of a thousand hues

The mirror of creation seems.

From love began thy high descent;
And lovers, charmed by gifts of thine,
Shall bless thee mutely eloquent;
And call thee brightest of the Nine!

THE MAID'S REMONSTRANCE.

NEVER wedding, ever wooing,
Still a love-lorn heart pursuing,
Read you not the wrong you 're doing

In my cheek's pale hue?

All my life with sorrow strewing,

Wed, or cease to woo.

Rivals banished, bosoms plighted,

Still our days are disunited;

Now the lamp of hope is lighted,
Now half-quenched appears,

Damped, and wavering, and benighted,
'Midst my sighs and tears.

Charms you call your dearest blessing,

Lips that thrill at your caressing,
Eyes a mutual soul confessing,
Soon you'll make them grow
Dim, and worthless your possessing,
Not with age, but woe!

ABSENCE.

'Tis not the loss of love's assurance,
It is not doubting what thou art,
But 't is the too, too long endurance
Of absence, that afflicts my heart.

The fondest thoughts two hearts can cherish,
When each is lonely doomed to weep,
Are fruits on desert isles that perish,
Or riches buried in the deep.

What though, untouched by jealous madness,
Our bosom's peace may fall to wreck!
The undoubting heart, that breaks with sadness,
Is but more slowly doomed to break.

Absence! is not the soul torn by it

From more than light, or life, or breath?

'Tis Lethe's gloom, but not its quiet,

The pain without the peace of death!