'Twas thou that from the whelming wave

My sinking soul redeemed;

'Twas thou that o'er destruction's storm

A calming radiance beamed.

ON VISITING MELROSE,

AFTER AN ABSENCE OF SIXTEEN YEARS.

YON setting sun, that slowly disappears,

Gleams a memento of departed years:

Aye, many a year is gone, and many a friend,

Since here I saw the autumn sun descend.

Ah! one is gone, whose hand was locked in mine,
In this, that traces now the sorrowing line:
And now alone I scan the mouldering tombs,
Alone I wander through the vaulted glooms,
And list, as if the echoes might retain

One lingering cadence of her varied strain.

Alas! I heard that melting voice decay,
Heard seraph tones in whispers die away;
I marked the tear presageful fill her eye,
And quivering speak,—I am resigned to die.
Ye stars, that through the fretted windows shed
A glimmering beam athwart the mighty dead,
Say to what sphere her sainted spirit flew,
That thither I may turn my longing view,
And wish, and hope, some tedious seasons o'er,
To join a long lost friend, to part no more.

THE

WILD DUCK AND HER BROOD.

How calm that little lake! no breath of wind
Sighs through the reeds; a clear abyss it seems,
Held in the concave of the inverted sky,—
In which is seen the rook's dull flagging wing
Move o'er the silvery clouds. How peaceful sails
Yon little fleet, the wild duck and her brood!
Fearless of harm, they row their easy way;
The water-lily, 'neath the plumy prows,
Dips, re-appearing in their dimpled track.
Yet, even amid that scene of peace, the noise
Of war, unequal, dastard war, intrudes.

THE WILD DUCK AND HER BROOD.

Yon revel rout of men, and boys, and dogs,
Boisterous approach; the spaniel dashes in;
Quick he descries the prey; and faster swims,
And eager barks; the harmless flock, dismayed,
Hasten to gain the thickest grove of reeds,
All but the parent pair; they, floating, wait
To lure the foe, and lead him from their young;
But soon themselves are forced to seek the shore.
Vain then the buoyant wing; the leaden storm
Arrests their flight; they, fluttering, bleeding fall,
And tinge the troubled bosom of the lake.

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