"High hearts and brave are gathered to thy breast!"
Yet more, the depths have more! Thy waves have rolled Above the cities of a world gone by!
Sand hath filled up the palaces of old,
Sea-weed o'ergrown the halls of revelry.— Dash o'er them, ocean! in thy scornful play : Man yields them to decay.
Yet more! the billows and the depths have more!
High hearts and brave are gathered to thy breast!
They hear not now the booming waters roar,
The battle-thunders will not break their rest.—
Keep thy red gold and gems, thou stormy grave!
Give back the true and brave!
Give back the lost and lovely !—those for whom
The place was kept at board and hearth so long,
The prayer went up through midnight's breathless gloom,
And the vain yearning woke midst festal song!
Hold fast thy buried isles, thy towers o'erthrown-
But all is not thine own.
To thee the love of woman hath gone down,
Dark flow thy tides o'er manhood's noble head,
O'er youth's bright locks, and beauty's flowery crown:
Yet must thou hear a voice-Restore the dead!
Earth shall reclaim her precious things from thee!—
Restore the dead, thou sea!
BRING flowers, young flowers, for the festal board,
To wreath the cup ere the wine is poured!
Bring flowers! they are springing in wood and vale :
Their breath floats out on the southern gale,
And the touch of the sunbeam hath waked the rose,
To deck the hall where the bright wine flows.
Bring flowers to strew in the conqueror's path!
He hath shaken thrones with his stormy wrath:
He comes with the spoils of nations back,
The vines lie crushed in his chariot's track,
The turf looks red where he won the day.
Bring flowers to die in the conqueror's way!
Bring flowers to the captive's lonely cell!
They have tales of the joyous woods to tell-
Of the free blue streams, and the glowing sky,
And the bright world shut from his languid eye;
They will bear him a thought of the sunny hours,
And the dream of his youth. Bring him flowers, wild flowers!
Bring flowers, fresh flowers, for the bride to wear !
They were born to blush in her shining hair.
She is leaving the home of her childhood's mirth,
She hath bid farewell to her father's hearth,
Her place is now by another's side.
Bring flowers for the locks of the fair young bride!
Bring flowers, pale flowers, o'er the bier to shed,
A crown for the brow of the early dead!
For this through its leaves hath the white rose burst,
For this in the woods was the violet nursed!
Though they smile in vain for what once was ours,
They are love's last gift. Bring ye flowers, pale flowers!
Bring flowers to the shrine where we kneel in prayer—
They are nature's offering, their place is there!
They speak of hope to the fainting heart,
With a voice of promise they come and part,
They sleep in dust through the wintry hours,
They break forth in glory. Bring flowers, bright flowers!
"Alas! the mother that him bare,
If she had been in presence there,
In his wan cheeks and sunburnt hair
She had not known her child."
REST, pilgrim, rest! Thou'rt from the Syrian land,
Thou'rt from the wild and wondrous East, I know
By the long-withered palm-branch in thy hand,
And by the darkness of thy sunburnt brow.
Alas! the bright, the beautiful, who part
So full of hope, for that far country's bourne !
Alas! the weary and the changed in heart,
And dimmed in aspect, who like thee return!
Thou'rt faint-stay, rest thee from thy toils at last :
Through the high chestnuts lightly plays the breez
The stars gleam out, the Ave hour is past,
The sailor's hymn hath died along the seas. 'Thou'rt faint and worn-hear'st thou the fountain welling By the grey pillars of yon ruined shrine?
Seest thou the dewy grapes before thee swelling?
-He that hath left me trained that loaded vine!
He was a child when thus the bower he wove,
(Oh hath a day fled since his childhood's time?)
That I might sit and hear the sound I love,
Beneath its shade-the convent's vesper-chime.
And sit thou there!--for he was gentle ever,
With his glad voice he would have welcomed thee,
And brought fresh fruits to cool thy parched lips' fever.
There in his place thou'rt resting-where is he?
If I could hear that laughing voice again,
But once again! How oft it wanders by,
In the still hours, like some remembered strain,
Troubling the heart with its wild melody!-
Thou hast seen much, tired pilgrim ! hast thou seen
In that far land, the chosen land of yore,
A youth-my Guido-with the fiery mien
And the dark eye of this Italian shore?
The dark, clear, lightning eye! On heaven and earth
It smiled-as if man were not dust it smiled!
The very air seemed kindling with his mirth,
And I-my heart grew young before my child!
My blessed child !-I had but him-yet he
Filled all my home even with o'erflowing joy,
Sweet laughter, and wild song, and footstep free.
Where is he now ?-my pride, my flower, my boy!
His sunny childhood melted from my sight,
Like a spring dew-drop. Then his forehead wore A prouder look-his eye a keener light:
I knew these woods might be his world no more!
He loved me-but he left me! Thus they go
Whom we have reared, watched, blessed, too much adored!
He heard the trumpet of the Red Cross blow,
And bounded from me with his father's sword!
Thou weep'st-I tremble !-Thou hast seen the slain
Pressing a bloody turf--the young and fair,
With their pale beauty strewing o'er the plain
Where hosts have met: speak! answer!-was he there? Oh! hath his smile departed? Could the grave
Shut o'er those bursts of bright and tameless glee?
No! I shall yet behold his dark locks wave !
That look gives hope-I knew it could not be !
Still weep'st thou, wanderer? Some fond mother's glance
O'er thee, too, brooded in thine early years--
Think'st thou of her, whose gentle eye, perchance,
Bathed all thy faded hair with parting tears?
Speak, for thy tears disturb me !-what art thou?
Why dost thou hide thy face, yet weeping on?
Look up! Oh! is it-that wan cheek and brow!--
Is it alas! yet joy!-my son, my son!
RING, joyous chords !-ring out again!
A swifter and a wilder strain !
|