She looked to the far-off town and wept;

And oh! could you blame the poor girl's tears? For she thought how many a maiden slept,

With Love and Honor as wardens near;
While she was left in the world alone,
With none to miss her when she was gone
Where the merciless waves were calling.

No human eye and no human ear

E'er saw a struggle or heard a sound; And the curious never could spare a tear

As they looked at morn on the outcast drown'd; But ah! had speech been given the dead, Perhaps those motionless lips had said,

'No homeless are found in heaven.'

FEVER.

THOU hast been ill, and I was never nigh thee,
I, whose existence by thine own was fed,
I did not watch in patient silence by thee,
I did not pray beside thy fevered bed;
True, there were gentler forms about thee moving,
And softer hands were fondly clasped in thine,
But yet there beat not there a heart more loving,
There was no keener agony than mine.

Could I have kneeled beside thee, and have told thee
All my full heart would gladly have outpoured,
Had it been granted in these arms to fold thee,

Gazing into thine eyes without a word;

Or to have kissed thy cheek, so hot and throbbing,
Or to mine own thine aching forehead press'd,
Or to have soothed thy low and half-heard sobbing,
Thou hadst been happy, I had been too blest.

I could have hushed my breath while thou wert sleeping,
And when thine eyes from slumber should unclose,
The same glance should meet them, dimmed with weep ing
That met them fondly ere they sought repose;
And if the wing of Death had o'er thee hovered,
With its slow motion swaying Life's dull tide,
From its chill shadow I had thee recovered,

Or in it sunk, unshrinking, at thy side.

Alas! thou might'st have died, and yet beside thee
Have never seen my form or heard me speak,
Love's last fond accents might have been denied thee,
Love's latest kiss have never pressed thy cheek;
I might have mingled in the world, and never

Have felt the blessing that thy latest prayer
Was for the one that soon from thee must sever,
Was, that he yet thy happiness might share.

The midnight came, and I could never slumber,

The morning came, and brought the night's unrest,
The thought that thou in pain the hours must number,
Filled with a deeper pain my quickened breast;
And, when at eve, the stars so calm and holy
Looked on the earth, then came the bitter fear

That thy pure soul unfit for mine so lowly,
Must seek their sky, its only fitting sphere.

But thou art spared me, oh, this stubborn spirit,
Unbent before, is meek and thankful now,

The garland of thy love I did not merit,

And yet it is not plucked from off my brow; And, in my dreams, thy semblance, like an angel, Smiles gently on me, bids me not to fear, Into my spirit sinks the blest Evangel,

And echoes sweetly, Be thou of good cheer.'

THE ROSARY.

THEY sat together in the wood,
The maiden and the boy,

And through the shade the sunlight fell,
Like sorrow crossed with joy.
So in their hearts Love's virgin ore

Was crossed with Grief's alloy.

'And take,' she said, 'this cross and chain, And wear it on thy breast:

6

I've counted oft each bead and link

To lull me to my rest;

And many a time this little cross
Hath to my lips been press'd.

Thou goest from me I no more
Shall watch about thy way;

I shall not see thy form at eve,
Or hear thy voice by day;
All that my weakness leaves for me
Is for thy sake to pray.

If Evil lure thee from the Right,

If Conscience plead in vain, Oh! like an iron link to Truth,

Heaven make this fragile chain ! And may this cross burn in thy heart, Till thou art strong again.

'If bluer, softer eyes than mine
Seem worlds of love to thee,
If other lips and other tones
Croud out my memory,

Still be this chain about thy soul,
To draw thee back to me.'

And so they parted: she to wear,
Above, an angel's crown,
And he to feel, on land or sea,
In forest or in town,

A cross and chain upon his heart,

From the far heaven let down.