LOVE RETURNED.

DELICIOUS fantasy! the thought was balm;

His heart, his eye in sudden rapture swam,
Nature was charm'd to him. He could have talk'd
With every star, that in its glory walk'd.

Hope had put life in all unliving things;
He hung above the fountain's rippling springs,
And heard them echo joy; the bud unbranch'd
That his light pressure on the streamlet launch'd,
Bounded in joy; his deep and burning sigh
Rose through the vine-leaves that gave sweet reply.
A sudden meteor sail'd across the heaven,

He hail'd its sign; to him, to him 't was given,
Omen of joy, bright promise of bright years.
"Let fear and folly have their 'vale of tears,'
Let him be blest with that unequall'd one;
Whoe'er she was, she might, she must be won :
Life would roll on, one calm and blossom'd spring;
Or, if the tempest came, they would but cling
With arms and hearts the closer, till 't was o'er;
Life a long joy; and death, a pang, no more."
Out burst in speech the lover's ecstasy.

George Croly.

GENEVIEVE.

MAID of my love, sweet Genevieve !
In Beauty's light you glide along:

Your eye is like the star of eve,
And sweet your voice, as seraph's song.

NEAR THEE.

Yet not your heavenly beauty gives
This heart with passion soft to glow:
Within your soul a voice there lives!
It bids you hear the tale of Woe:
When sinking low the sufferer wan
Beholds no hand outstretched to save,
Fair, as the bosom of the swan
That rises graceful o'er the wave,

I've seen your breast with pity heave,

And therefore love I you, sweet Genevieve !

NEAR THEE.

S. T. Coleridge.

I WOULD be with thee-near thee-ever near thee-
Watching thee ever, as the angels are-
Still seeking with my spirit-power to cheer thee,
And thou to see me, but as some bright star,
Knowing me not, but yet oft-times perceiving

That when thou gazest I still brighter grow,
Beaming and trembling-like some bosom heaving
With all it knows, yet would not have thee know.

I would be with thee-fond, yet silent ever,

Nor break the spell in which my soul is bound; Mirror'd within thee as within a river:

A flower upon thy breast, and thou the ground!
That, when I died and unto earth return'd,

Our natures never more might parted be;
Within thy being all mine own inurn'd-
Life, bloom, and beauty, all absorbed in thee!

Charles Swain.

MY SISTER ELLEN.

SISTER Ellen, I've been dreaming
Of a fair and happy time;
Gentle thoughts are round me gleaming,
Thoughts of sunny girlhood's prime :
Oh, the light, untutored fancies,

Images so quaint and bold-
Outlines dim of old romances,

Forming childhood's age of gold ! Eternal spring was then above us, Sunshine cheered our every path; None then knew us but to love us

Winning ways sweet childhood hath.

Thou art little Nelly, looking
Up into my anxious face,

I thy childish caprice brooking,
As thy merry thoughts I trace:
See thy dreamy blue eyes glancing
From thy founts of light and glee,

And thy little feet go dancing

Like the waves upon the sea! Tossing from thy snowy shoulder Golden curls with witching grace, Charming every new beholder

With thine arch, expressive face.

Sister Ellen! I've been dreaming

Of some lightsome summer eves, When the harvest-moon was beaming Softly through the dewy leaves

LOVE BALLAD.

Looking upward, how we pondered
On the dazzling glories there!
We were children then together,
Though I older was in years,

And life's dark and stormy weather

Seemed like April's smiles and tears.

Rebecca S. Nichols.

LOVE BALLAD.

LONELY from my home I come

To cast myself upon your tomb,

And to weep;

Lonely from my lonesome home,

My lonesome home of grief and gloom,

While I keep

Vigil, often all night long,

For your dear dear sake,

Praying many a prayer so wrong,
That my heart would break.

Gladly, O my blighted flower,

Sweet apple of my bosom's tree,
Would I now

Stretch me in your dark death-bower,
Beside your corpse, and lovingly

Kiss your brow.

But we'll meet ere many a day,

Never more to part,

For c'en now I feel the clay

Gathering round my heart.