Rush on in quick succession; gaping wide
With cavernous mouth, to swallow up their prey.

Then terror-struck the white-sailed ship doth flee,
As if she were some closely-hunted hind,
That running blindly on, doth trembling seek
The quiet shelter of some friendly cave.

But long before 'tis reached her eye-balls strained
With longing gaze, are glazed in grim, cold death.
The quiv'ring limbs her great embarrassment

No longer testifies. The fearful strife

Of death-agony is past; she breathes no more.

Even so the laden ship so fair, and strong
Erstwhile, is now resistless torn by grasp
Of Ocean's arms; she gasping sinks therein.
No more will gentle zephyrs play within
Her fair white wings.

No more to shores whose odorous breath
Delicious scents the balmy breeze, she'll sail
With graceful mien. The Sea, with envious eye
Hath cruelly despoiled her. Down she sinks

With all her living, breathing treasure closed
Within her.

I

And thou, oh, Sea, assumeth placid calm,

As if no crime were thine; like innocence

Thou weareth smooth and happy brow, and trust Again is given to thy deceitful face.

Now slowly comes the rolling mist all dark
And moist. It is thy heavy breath which fills
The broad expanse. In volumes huge and dank
It spreads itself, o'er earth, through air, and like
A dark unsightly veil it hideth all
Things fair.

The numerous suns who myriad miles above
The sky, desire to send their far-off light

To earth, are now shut out.

bright

Is hid by black and murky mask.

Their scintillation

And Cynthia herself can show no more

Her beaming, placid face, and her strong spouse Through atmosphere has ceased to dart his rays; For all is steamy, cold, and vaporous.

The Heavens unhappy at such fate weep tears
Of sadness. Winds moan and sigh, and all

Without is misery.

Birds hide their heads;

Their song is hushed; their pleasant warblings

ceased,

For in this darksome time all Nature mourns.

SOUVENIR OF OXFORD

LIKE echoes oft repeated through a chain
Of mighty hills, reverberating far,

Whose voice so strangely multiplied doth leap
From peak to peak; or as a train of dear
Sweet visions, each one brighter than the last,
So thy remembrances, fair city come
Before mine eyes, and ever in my thoughts
Are imaged forms so life-like, real,—true—
They take a tangibility so clear,

That fain I would persuade myself once more
I live, I move among them.

Now I glide

Most softly o'er the rippling waters bright

Of lovely Isis; where the willows bend

With graceful mien from rich and verdant banks,

And seem to watch their own reflection fair

In drooping modesty. And blue forget-me-nots Shy peeping from their em'rald beds, now set My heart aglow.

Imagination fondly takes me next

Beneath the cool deep shade of noble trees,

Which clothed in beauteous dress of green stand

forth

All radiant in their freshness, new and bright;
Suggesting thoughts for utterance too high,
Too deep for words to give expression true.

And now the soul in tend'rest rapture turns
To dear associations of the past;

For mem'ry quick recalls how genius trod
That very path long time ago, in grave
And serious contemplation.

Again the scene is changed. I see uprise,
As vivid antique pictures, forms distinct
Of venerable piles, whose ancient walls
All ivy-covered; fair, and shapely domes,
And arches curiously carved, inspire

Me straight with rev'rence deep; I bow me down