YOU ASKED, I REMEMBER. You asked, I remember, if those that have flown To the regions of sunshine, would visit again The scenes of past grief, to mortality known, The dream of anxiety, chequered with pain? From courts of the skies should the spotless e'er bend, And delights, once endeared, unimpassioned descry; Is there aught that could bid the wrapt spirit descend, Or a wish rise unbidden, to waken the sigh? If so, 'tis the thought of that innocent bliss, And to Time lends the hue of Eternity's hour. If so, 'tis remembrance of love's plighted vow, The sweets of communion, once ardent and true; And the wish that those veiled in mortality now, Should soar disembodied, and friendship renew. LOVE. YES, life is but a waste, A cheerless pathway, where No healthy fruit allures the taste, If Love The wild rose, ne'er luxuriates there. Love is a guide, when lorn The wanderer is astray, 'Mid dangers, and no star of dawn To smile upon his way; 'Tis Love Burns on the cloud, the gem of day! Along affliction's coast, Hard by despair's grim shoal, She shines on him, the tempest-tost, The light-house of the soul; And guides Where storms repose, no oceans roll. O thou Inspirer! who Sang to my infancy, And half life's rugged journey through Hast still attended me, I consecrate My all to thee, to only thee! When pleasure's mellow note Allured me to her bowers, Thou bad'st kind dreams of fancy float Along the white-wing'd hours; Thy smile Did strew existence' path with flowers. The lightning crossed my way, When all was tempest, night and wrath. Be nigh at the dread hour Of nature's utmost need, When unknown shadowy worlds appear, And unreal scenes recede. O then the spirit cheer, And bid it on its passage speed! AMERICAN SLAVERY. LIFT ye my country's banner high, Blood, blood, is on its spangled fold, God! all the seas thy channels hold, These glorious stars and stripes that led Vailed only to the honoured dead- These symbols that to kings could tell Dishonoured shall they be by hands, No! let the earthquake-utterance be Up, then! determine, dare and do, What justice claims, what freemen may ; What frowning heaven demands of you, While yet its muttering thunders stay; That thou, forever from this soil That thou thy brother from the dust Lift up, and speak his spirit free! That millions whom thy crime hath curst, May blessings plead on thine and thee. Then to the universe wide spread WEEP NOT. WEEP not, when sad distress is nigh, Weep not, when death with cruel dart, Weep not, for as the morning cloud, Weep not, for as the floweret fair, |