SONNETS, DEVOTIONAL AND MEMORIAL. I. THE SACRED HARP. How shall the Harp of poesy regain A spell divine o'er guilt's perturbing fears, And showers of holy quiet, with its fall, Sank on the soul:-Oh! who may now recall The mighty music's consecrated reign ?— Spirit of God! whose glory once o'erhung A throne, the Ark's dread cherubim between, So let thy presence brood, though now unseen, O'er those two powers by whom the harp is strungFeeling and Thought!-till the rekindled chords Give the long buried tone back to immortal words! II. TO A FAMILY BIBLE. What household thoughts around thee, as their shrine, Cling reverently!—of anxious looks beguiled My mother's eyes, upon thy page divine, Each day were bent ;-her accents, gravely mild To some lone tuft of gleaming spring-flowers wild, A seed not lost;-for which, in darker years, II. TO A FAMILY BIBLE. What household thoughts around thee, as their shrine, Cling reverently!-of anxious looks beguiled My mother's eyes, upon thy page divine, Each day were bent ;-her accents, gravely mild Breathed out thy lore: whilst I, a dreamy child Wandered on breeze-like fancies oft away, To some lone tuft of gleaming spring-flowers wild, A seed not lost;-for which, in darker years, III. REPOSE OF A HOLY FAMILY. From an Old Italian Picture. Under a palm tree, by the green old Nile, Lull'd on his mother's breast, the fair Child lies, With dove-like breathings, and a tender smile, While, through the stillness of the burning skies, Regal and still as everlasting things!— Vain pomps! from Him, with that pure flowery cheek, Soft shadowed by his mother's drooping head, A new born Spirit, mighty, and yet meek, O'er the whole world like vernal air shall spread ! And bid all earthly Grandeurs cast the crown, Before the suffering and the lowly, down. |