Works

No martyr-blood hath ever flowed in vain! -
No patriot bled, that proved not freedom's gain!
Those tones, which despots heard with fear and dread
From living lips, ring sterner from the dead;...

A MOTHER'S ADDRESS TO HER FAMILY ON HER GOLDEN-WEDDING DAY.


Just fifty years, my daughters,
Just fifty years, my son,
Since your sire and I together
The march of life begun....

Away to the hills, away! -
There is health in the summer air; -
The rustling bough, and the bending spray,
And the breath of flowers are there -
The honey-bee's hum and the wild bird's song,...

Alone, alone! - the night is very silent,
Voiceless the stars are, and the pallid moon
Through the unknown sends down no tone, no utt'rance
To break the hush of midnight's solemn noon!...

"Here is a lantern, my little boy,"
Said a father to his child,
"And yonder's a wood, a lonely wood,
Tangled, and rough, and wild;
And now, this night, - this very hour,
Though gloomy and dark it be,...

"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety"


The tranquil hours steal by
On drowsy wings and slow,
And over all the peaceful sky...

Father in Heaven, to thee,
Guardian and friend,
Lowly the suppliant knee
Here would we bend! -
Blessing thee ere we part,
Each with a grateful heart,
For all thy love doth send -...

I thought it pleasant when a manly sire
Weary of foreign travel, at the door
Of his own cottage left his dusty staff,
And entering in, sat down with those he loved...

A transient day,
A troubled night,
The swift decay,
The certain blight,
And death and dust; -

And are these all? -
Nay: those are past;
And she who sleeps
Shall wake at last...

I.

Beautiful Autumn is dead and gone -
Weep for her!
Calm, and gracious, and very fair,
With sunny robe and with shining hair,
And a tender light in her dreamy eye,...

Brethren, go! the day is bright'ning
As the sultry noon steals on,
And the fields, already whit'ning,
Tell of labor to be done.

There are toilsome days before you,
Burdens that you may not shun,...

Will the shadows be lifted to-morrow? -
Will the sunshine come ever again? -
Will the clouds, that are weeping in sorrow,
Their glorious beauty regain?
Will the forest stand forth in its greenness? -...

God will not let His bright gifts die
If I may not sing my songs just now
I shall sing them by and by


A young man with a Poet's soul,
And a Poet's kindling eye -...

Alien blossoms! tell me why
Seek ye such a lonely place,
Thus to bloom, and droop, and die
Far away from all your race?

Wherefore, from the sunny bowers
Where your beauteous kindred bloom,...

Upon the plain of Dura stood an image great and high,
With golden forehead broad and bright beneath the morning sky;
All regal in its majesty and kingly in its mien,...

AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED TO A DEAR FRIEND ON THE DEATH OF A BELOVED FATHER.


The dawn-light wakes, and brightens to the day,
And the slow sun climbs the far eastern skies,...

"I am doing no good!" said a little rill,
As it rippled along at the foot of a hill,
"I am doing no good with my babbling here,
No one is listening, - no one is near!"
...

(Ps. 3 5.)


Dark was the midnight hour,
And wild with storm. Nor moon nor pitying star
Gleamed through the inky darkness from afar;
And Earth seemed reeling blindly to her doom,...

A voice missed by the dear home-hearth -
A voice of music and gentle mirth -
A voice whose lingering sweetness long
Will float through many a Sabbath song,
And many a hallowed, evening hymn,...

John Littlewit, friends, was a credulous man.
In the good time long ago,
Ere men had gone wild o'er the latter-day dream
Of turning the world upside down with steam,...