Amid the "hears" of the applauding House, Replied the weak voice of our hungry Mouse: "Your reasoning may for Rats indeed suffice; "But O, great Sir! you quite forget the Mice!" ΤΟ ΙΝΑ. OUR hour is past-and I must bear The green moss from the stone;- For whose the thoughts that round me twine But tell me not in crowds to prove How vain is all that Pride would claim; The charm of life that's lost in Love Is never found in Fame; When once the film is from the eyes, Yet fain my heart would seek show And Fame were sweet if thou could'st know Thy memory!-can I think that word, And yet it soothes since thou didst form It soothes me, henceforth, that the storm With thee life's very verdure past To withered stems what boots the blast! Away the lyre!—it hath no strain In which a love like ours should speak; But we may never meet again, For hearts-like ties-will break ;And I would fain that thou should'st see That mine-till broken-is with thee! C1 сс 386 TO INA IN ABSENCE. (FOUR YEARS AFTER THE LAST.) THOU only hast been more to me Than aught my prophet dreams foretold; The wildest thoughts when turned to thee, My memory mocks as cold. In earlier loves, my strain would tell The tears are in my eyes. Like Love's recalled devotion. In silent depth, the thoughts that form, Thou tell'st me thou canst scarce believe Thou tell'st me thou wilt scarcely deem Yet is there that-and right thou art→→→ -It is the heart I love! ORAMA, OR THE SOUL AND ITS FUTURE. THIN, shadowy, scarce divided from the light, Flowed silvery o'er the garb of gloom: a horn Stirred its wan lips ;-death-like, it seemed not death! One awe!-voice fled the body as it slept, But from its startled depths, the' o'erlaboured Soul Spake, king-like, out-" What art Thou that would'st seem "To have o'er Immortality control ?" And the shape answered-not by sound-" A DREAM! "A Dream-but not a Dream! the Shade of Things "To come; a Spirit from the thrones of Fate, “I ruled the hearts of Earth's primæval Kings; 66 I gave their life its impulse and its date; "Grey Wisdom paled before me; and the Stars "Were made my weird Interpreters-my hand "Aroused the whirlwind of the destined wars, "And bowed the Nations to my dim command! "A Dream, but not a Dream-a type, a sign "Of the vast Future do I come to thee! "And where I come, I AM THE FUTURE! Thine, "Behold, and tremble to behold, in ME. 66 What, thou would'st rise?—the lesser flights of Fame "Content thee not-thy heart hath grown a fire, "And the arch priest Ambition feeds the flame 6 "With the prophetic laurel'* of desire. "And in the Air; and on the voiceless Earth, "Thou seek'st an omen, and believ'st a hope; ' And thy chained spirit from the bonds of Birth "Looks to the mighty Heaven-and pines for scope! "Hark, hark-I tell thee that the unsheathed blade "Shall break-if strife redeem it from its rust; "Hark, hark!-I tell thee that the wreath is laid "Upon the bier!-now grasp it—and be dust !" "Methought my soul did answer 'Come the strife'The bier!—Life's ends have nobler things than life !' * Μαντικὸν φυτὸν. |