Thus, on their hyaline above,
In constellations stand

The tribes redeem'd by sovereign love:
—Crown'd, and with harp in hand,
They sing before the great I AM,
The song of Moses and the Lamb;
Returning in perpetual streams
His own all-lightening beams.
-Theirs be thy portion, O my soul!
That while heaven's years self-circling roll,
I may, among the ransom'd—they in me,
And I in them,-GOD's image see.

1834.

THE LILY.

TO A YOUNG LADY, E. P.

FLOWER of light, forget thy birth,
Daughter of the sordid earth,
Lift the beauty of thine eye
To the blue ethereal sky!

While thy graceful buds unfold
Silver petals starr'd with gold,
Let the bee among thy bells

Rifle their ambrosial cells,
And the nimble-pinion'd air

Waft thy breath to heaven like prayer.

Cloud and sun alternate shed

Gloom or glory round thine head;
Morn impearl thy leaves with dews,
Evening lend them rosy hues,

Noon with snow-white splendour bless,
Night with glow-worm jewels dress.
-Thus fulfil thy summer-day,

Spring, and flourish, and decay;
Live a life of fragrance, — then

Disappear, to rise again,
When thy sisters of the vale
Welcome back the nightingale.

1829.

So may she, whose name I write,
Be herself a flower of light,
Live a life of innocence,
Die to be transplanted hence
To that garden in the skies,
Where the lily never dies.

THE GENTIANELLA.

IN LEAF.

GREEN thou art, obscurely green,
Meanest plant among the mean!

From the dust I took my birth;
Thou, too, art a child of earth;
I aspire not to be great;

Scorn not thou my low estate;
Time will come when thou shalt see

Honour crown humility,

Beauty set her seal on me.

IN FLOWER.

Blue thou art, intensely blue,

Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue?

When I open'd first mine eye, Upward glancing to the sky, Straightway from the firmament Was the sapphire brilliance sent. Brighter glory wouldst thou share, Do what I did,-look up there; What I could not,-look with prayer!

THE SUN-FLOWER.

EAGLE of flowers! I see thee stand,
And on the sun's noon-glory gaze;
With eye like his, thy lids expand,

And fringe their disk with golden rays:
Though fix'd on earth, in darkness rooted there,
Light is thine element, thy dwelling air,
Thy prospect heaven.

So would mine eagle-soul descry,

Beyond the path where planets run,

The light of immortality,

The splendour of creation's sun;

Though sprung from earth, and hastening to the

tomb,

In hope a flower of paradise to bloom,

I look to heaven.

1834.