ON SEEING A LEAF FALL BY MOONLIGHT.

I.

Oн, bright was the hour when thou wast born,
And the winds sang peace to the blushing morn,

Who stepp'd o'er the clouds at their matin call:
But ne'er
may the memory of days gone by

Save the victim of death when his hour is nigh;
And vain was the warmth of thy natal sky;

The moonlight saw thee fall.

II.

Thy youth it was spent in dance and glee,
With thy leaflet brothers embowering thee,
Happiness trembling o'er one and all:

But the loveliest dreams must fade away,

And our comrades, ah, tell me, where are they?

Links are broken to-morrow, though twined to-day;
The moonlight saw thee fall.

III.

Thou hast stood the cloud and the dashing rain,

Over thee the chill blast hath swept in vain,

And the night vainly spread her funeral pall: But a word may crush when the heart doth ache, And it needs not then a storm ere it break;

Thou hast stood the tempest, when strong hearts quake, But the moonlight saw thee fall.

Watton, 1844.

FRAGMENTS.

FOR though the skirts of the far tempest oft
Have fallen on my path, though I have proved,
At times, the bitterness of grief,—yet, when
The heart is all alone in suffering,

We scarce can say that we have suffer'd ;--all
Seems centred so within us, and the waves

Swell in so narrow and so small a world,

That what hath moved us scarce can ask the name Of suffering.

Sunny hath been my home of childhood-strong
The links of love that bind our happy circle,-
No jarring note hath broken the sweet stream
Of music that hath linger'd, like the dove
Of peace, among us :-father, mother, children-
"Hearts of each other sure," souls knit as one-

All wending in glad fellowship towards Heaven.

Heaven is our bourne, and its far hope hath lighted

Upon our ocean-pathway, beacon-like,

And caught the summits of the smallest waves

That rise and sink around us, telling still

Each bears us onward on its tremulous breast

To the still haven of eternal love.

Sometimes the distant clouds have threaten'd woe,
Their shadow fallen near us, but when we
Were striving to win over our sad hearts,
Unmurmuring to resign what Heaven hath given,
Perchance some floweret from our wreath of love,
Some emerald dew-drop from a cup o'erflowing,-
Then hath our God, our Father, with a smile
That told how He rejoiced in all our joy,
Return'd it to us lovelier, more beloved,

Because for one sad voiceless moment, fear

Had chill'd our hearts lest it should fade or fall.

Watton, 1844.

LINES ON A SUFFERING SISTER.

I.

"IF NEEDS BE."

I.

SUFFERING for thee, sweet sister--and sharp pain

For thee, the gentlest of earth's gentle ones?
Does the cloud gather o'er thy heart and brain
So darkly, and yet no repining tones?

Oh, hush! my own sad heart, thy faithless fears,
And quell or dry thy quick, rebellious tears.

II.

She, as a babe upon a mother's breast,

A child within a father's sheltering arms,

Unconsciously is lying ;-the unrest,

Brother, is thine-thine all those rude alarms.

Still thy heart's beatings where she hers hath still'd, Believing all is best that He hath will'd.