SUMMER FLOWERS.

"We made a poesy while Time ran by, But Time did beckon to the flowers,-and they, By noon most cunningly did steal away,

And wither in the hand!"

GEORGE HERBERT.

Fade not so fast-ye lovely things!

Sweet rose, why change thy hues so soon?

For Summer yet on zephyr's wings,

Revisits you at noon:

The scarlet fuscia lingers still,

And asters of unnumber'd dyes, Their bright, brief destiny, fulfil,

Beneath the changing skies.

Fade not away,

But longer stay,

Though Autumn comes with mantle grey,

And tunes her requiem note, over the closing day.

SUMMER FLOWERS.

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"Ye 'mind me o' departed hours,"

When youth and health were wreathing bowers,

All garlanded with laughing flowers,

And fancy's pictures rare;

Alas! there came a wintry blast,

And youth and health fled quickly past

And Hope, her garland downward cast.
To droop and wither there!

Ye flowers farewell!-for ere the spring,
Her vernal airs and dews shall bring

To earth once more,

My weary course may finish'd be,

Where the last wave breaks silently,

On death's cold shore.

Once more farewell!-for when again,
Ye shall resume your joyous reign

In beauty and in bloom,

Some gentle heart, remembering me,
May bring your blossoms tearfully,

To deck my tomb!

AFFECTION.

Thro' Time's bleak wilderness, while journeying on, When far behind we leave life's sunny vale, And tread the thorny paths by pilgrims worn, When health, and hope, and spirit 'gins to fail, And loud the winds of the chill autumn wailHow seeks the soul, as wanes life's frowning day, To find some answering mind, soothing its cares away!

But change, and death, and separations wait
Upon that hope,-and to the musing eye,
That backward turns to trace the storms of fate,
What shatter'd wrecks around in ruin lie!

Affections fond,-and early friendship's tie,

All scatter'd to the winds, that answering moan, O'er shadows of the past-on memory's record

borne !

AFFECTION.

When murky clouds night's canopy invest,

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While darkly spread the shades of evening grey, How loves the eye on one bright star to rest,

Upon pale Hesper's soft and tranquil ray!

A lamp in the blue concave far away,Of all heaven's myriad stars the only one, Shedding its dewy light upon the wanderer

lone.

And thus like thee, thou glittering gem of eve, When storms are gathering in Time's wintry sky, Affection softens half the ills we grieve,

Scattering the woes that crowd our destiny; Soothing with tenderness the tear and sigh:

A light from other worlds,-a charm divine.

:

-ever may this balm for sorrow's hour be

Oh,

mine!

Shall we not meet, when the bright shore is won,
The tempest over, and the waves at rest;
When life's vain care and anxious day is done,
And the green turf lies lightly on each breast!
Shall we not know again our dearest,-best?
Oh, yes! I still will dream, when time is over,
Together we may roam, and brighter worlds dis-

cover!

N

THE POETS.

"Blessings be with them,-and eternal praise,-
The poets, who on earth have made us heirs
Of truth and pure delight, by heavenly lays."

MILTON.

“Beyond this visible diurnal sphere,”

For ever soaring did thy muse ascend;

By Siloa's brook, didst thou faint warblings hear, And light celestial with thy visions blend.

Dark, dark, the sightless orbs, no outward ray
Intruded where thy spirit loved to scan
Angels and powers, and boldly did essay,
"To vindicate the ways of God to man."

But mental day's full radiance shining there Reflected things beyond the reach of thought; Scenes bright and glorious, and divinely fair,

The "blind old man" in lays immortal taught.