SPEED THE PROW.

NOT the ship that swiftest saileth, But which longest holds her way Onward, onward, never faileth,

Storm and calm, to win the day; Earliest she the haven gains, Which the hardest stress sustains.

O'er life's ocean, wide and pathless, Thus would I with patience steer; No vain hope of journeying scathless, No proud boast to face down fear; Dark or bright his Providence,

Trust in God be my

defence.

Time there was, 'tis so no longer,— When I crowded every sail,

Battled with the waves, and stronger Grew, as stronger grew the gale; But my strength sunk with the wind, And the sea lay dead behind.

There my bark had founder'd surely, But a Power invisible

Breathed upon me;-then securely, Borne along the gradual swell,

Helm, and shrouds, and heart renew'd, my humbler course pursued.

I

Now, though evening shadows blacken, And no star comes through the gloom, On I move, nor will I slacken

Sail, though verging tow'rds the tomb: Bright beyond,-on heaven's high strand, Lo, the lighthouse!-land, land, land!

Cloud and sunshine, wind and weather,
Sense and sight are fleeing fast;
Time and tide must fail together,

Life and death will soon be past;
But where day's last spark declines,
Glory everlasting shines.

1834.

THE SKY-LARK.

(ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND.)

On hearing one singing at daybreak, during a sharp frost, on the 17th of February, 1832, while the author was on travel, between Bath and Stroud.

O WARN away the gloomy night,

With music make the welkin ring,
Bird of the dawn!-On joyful wing,
Soar through thine element of light,
Till nought in heaven mine eye can see,
Except the morning star and thee.

O welcome in the cheerful day!
Through rosy clouds the shades retire,
The sun hath touch'd thy plumes with fire,

And girt thee with a golden ray:

Now shape and voice are vanish'd quite,
Nor
eye nor ear can track thy flight.

Could I translate thy strains, and give
Words to thy notes in human tongue,
The sweetest lay that e'er I sung,
The lay that would the longest live,
I might record upon this page,
And sing thy song from age to age.

But speech of mine can ne'er reveal
Secrets so freely told above,

Yet is their burden joy and love,
And all the bliss a bird can feel,

Whose wing in heaven to earth is bound, Whose home and heart are on the ground.

Unlike the lark be thou, my friend!

No downward cares thy thoughts engage, But in thine house of pilgrimage, Though from the ground thy songs ascend, Still be their burden joy and love: -Heaven is thy home, thy heart above.

THE FIXED STARS.

REIGN in your heaven, ye stars of light!

Beyond this troubled scene;

With you,

fair orbs! there is no night,

Eternally serene,

Each casts around its tranquil way,
The radiance of its own clear day;
Yet not unborrow'd.—What are ye?
Mirrors of Deity:

My soul, in your reflective rays,

Him whom no eye hath seen surveys,

As I behold (himself too bright for view)
The sun in every drop of dew.

The gloom that brings, through evening skies,
Your beauty from the deep;

The clouds that hide you from our eyes;
The storms that seem to sweep
Your scatter'd train, like vessels tost
On ocean's waves, now seen, now lost;
Belong to our inferior ball,

Ye shine above them all:

Your splendour noon eclipses not,

Nor night reveals, nor vapours blot;

O'er us, not you, these changes come and pass; Ye navigate a sea of glass.