THE SLEEPER. Ar midnight, in the month of June, Exhales from out her golden rim, Upon the quiet mountain top, Steals drowsily and musically' Into the universal valley. The rosemary nods upon the grave; (Her casement open to the skies) Oh, lady bright! can it be right- Laughingly through the lattice drop- Flit through thy chamber in and out, So fitfully-so fearfully Above the closed and fringed lid 'Neath which thy slumb'ring soul lies hid, That, o'er the floor and down the wall, Like ghosts the shadows rise and fall! Why and what art thou dreaming here? Strange is thy pallor ! strange thy dress! The lady sleeps! Oh, may her sleep, Heaven have her in its sacred keep! This chamber changed for one more holy, I pray to God that she may lie While the dim sheeted ghosts go by! My love, she sleeps! Oh, may her sleep, As it is lasting, so be deep! [Soft may the worms about her creep.!] For her may some tall vault unfold- Against whose portal she hath thrown Some tomb from out whose sounding door Thrilling to think, poor child of sin ! It was the dead who groaned within. THE COLISEUM. TYPE of the antique Rome! Rich reliquary Vastness and Age! and Memories of Eld! Here, where a hero fell, a column falls ! Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold, Here, where the dames of Rome their gilded hair Lit by the wan light of the hornéd moon, The swift and silent lizard of the stones! But stay! these walls-these ivy-clad arcades- shafts These vague entablatures-this crumbling frieze These shattered cornices-this wreck-this ruin These stones-alas! these grey stones-are they allAll of the famed, and the colossal left By the corrosive Hours to Fate and me? "Not all"-the Echoes answer me-" not all ! Prophetic sounds and loud, arise forever From us, and from all Ruin, unto the wise, As melody from Memnon to the Sun. |