ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY.
FLOWER of light! forget thy birth,
Daughter of the sordid earth,
Lift the beauty of thine eye
To the blue ethereal sky.
While thy graceful buds unfold
Silver petals starr'd with gold,
Let the bee among thy bells
Rifle their ambrosial cells,
And the nimble-pinion'd air
Waft thy breath to heaven like prayer:
Cloud and sun alternate shed
Gloom or glory round thy head;
Morn impearl thy leaves with dews,
Evening lend them rosy hues;
Morn with snow-white splendour bless,
Night with glow-worm jewels dress :
Thus fulfil thy summer-day,
Spring, and flourish, and decay;
Live a life of fragrance,-then
Disappear to rise again,
When thy sisters of the vale
Welcome back the nightingale.
may she whose name I write,
Be herself a flower of light,
Live a life of innocence,
Die to be transported hence,
To that garden in the skies,
Where the Lily never dies.
EFFECTS OF KINDNESS TO ANIMALS.
KINDNESS can woo the lion from his den,
(A moral lesson to the sons of men ;)
His mighty heart in silken bonds can draw,
And bend his nature to sweet pity's law:
Kindness can lure the eagle from her nest
Midst sun-beams placed, content with man to rest;
Can make the elephant, whose bulk supplies
The warrior-tower, compassionate as wise:
Make the fell tigress (from her chain unbound,
Herself unfed, her craving offspring round)
Forget the force of hunger and of blood,
Meekly receive from man her long-wish'd food;
Take too the chastisement, and (if 't is just)
Submissive take it, crouching to the dust:
Kindness can habits, nay, the nature, change
Of all that swim the deep, or forest range:
And for the mild, domestic train, who come,—
The dog, the steed,-with thee to find a home,
Gladly they serve thee: serve thee better too,
When only happy beings meet their view :
Ah! then, let gentler accents, gentler looks, supply The thunders of thy voice, the lightnings of thy
THE MOTHER'S RETURN.
A MONTH, Sweet little ones, is pass'd
Since dear mother went away—
And she to-morrow will return;
To-morrow is the happy day.
O blessed tidings! thought of joy!
The eldest heard with steady glee;
Silent he stood; then laugh'd amain,-
And shouted, "Mother, come to me!"
Louder and louder did he shout, With witless hope to bring her near ;
Nay, patience! patience, little boy! Your tender mother cannot hear."
I told of hills, and far-off towns,
And long, long vales to travel through;
He listens, puzzled, sore perplex'd,
But he submits; what can he do?
No strife disturbs his sister's breast;
She wars not with the mystery
Of time and distance, night and day,
The bonds of our humanity.
Her joy is like an instinct-joy
Of kitten, bird, or summer fly;
She dances, runs without an aim,
She chatters in her ecstacy.
And echoes back his sister's glee;
They hug the infant in my arms,
As if to force his sympathy.
Then, settling into fond discourse, We rested in the garden bower; While sweetly shone the evening sun, In his departing hour.
We told o'er all that we had done,—
Our rambles by the swift brook's side
Far as the willow-skirted pool,
Where two fair swans together glide.
We talk'd of change, of winter gone,
Of green leaves on the hawthorn spray,
Of birds that build their nests and sing,
And" all since mother went away
To her these tales they will repeat,
To her our new-born tribes will show,
The goslings green, the ass's colt,
The lambs that in the meadow go.
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