Lays from the West Part 16

Oh! Time and Doubt! ye fill the heart With sepulchres of Love and Truth; Our hopes lie dead but memory's part Must still be played till life shall cease.

Oh! swift years ever drifting fleet Adown life's current, tempest toss'd, Roll on! till on Time's brink we meet And hail the life where nought is lost!

GOOD WISHES

TO ------ ON HIS MARRIAGE.

My friend, on this your wedding-day, Where Love and Hope unite, To yield with Hymenal ray The bridal morning bright.-- When hands are clasped And cups are quaffed, When round go wishes true, This song of mine For Auld Lang Syne I send to her and you.

An echo of the bygone times To mingle with your wedding chimes!

"Good luck," on this your wedding morn, "G.o.d speed" for years to be; Good wishes, of old friends.h.i.+p born For days ye both shall see.

When in your bowers, Bloom promise-flowers, Ah! ne'er may sorrow's gloom Bring shadow there, May sunlight fair Your hearth and home illume!

All good, all joy, all blessing true, I wish to your fair bride and you!

May Heaven its choicest riches send To bless your life's long way; May Love its lasting beauty lend That age can't steal away.

Oh! may your sky As swift years fly Be cloudless, bright and fair; May joys' own glow Dispel all woe, And chase away grim care!

May every good that G.o.d can send Be yours through all your life, my friend!

"ONLY FRIENDS."

We said "good-bye" in a quiet lane, the gloaming, years ago; few were our words about "parting pain"-- we were "only friends" you know.

Good friends had we been in the dear, dead hours, that still in our hearts would live, At morn we had wandered the wild-wood bowers, We had roamed through the lanes at eve.

We had gathered the sweets of the summer glades, The rose, and the violet blue; We had talked of Love in the twilight shades, And of hearts that were tried and true.

But of our heart's hopes, or our own love-dreams, Ah! never a word said we, For Fate had forbidden our lips such themes, And "friends" we could only be.

And our farewell came, like a boding gloom, That darkened life's morning ray, And joy's glad glow, and Hope's tender bloom Died out of one heart that day.

How we thought in that hour of the bygone days, Of the golden summer prime, Of the mountains wild, and the woodland ways, And the spell of the gloaming time!

And, it may be, the memory of whispered words Came o'er us with subtle power, Awaking, unbidden, our full hearts' chords In the pain of that parting hour.

For our hands were clasped, and our lips once met, The first time, and the last; Ah me! 'twere well could we all forget, Some scenes in our buried past;--

For the blue outline of the mountains high, The lake, and the woodland green, The quiet lane, and the twilight sky, Too oft in my dreams are seen!

And still, tho' the summers are bright and fair, And the summer woods are gay, To me there is something wanting there That has pa.s.sed from my life away!

ODE TO SUMMER.

Beauteous Queen! with crown of flowers, On your tresses sunny sheen; Welcome! to the "Lone-Land" bowers, To our prairies, wild and green!

In your path spring flowers to meet you, Nature's choicest glories greet you, Fair Enchantress! I entreat you, Listen to my lay!

Smiling Summer, down the ages, Still your praises have been sung, And the poets and the sages, Who have spoke with gifted tongue,-- In our legends, old and h.o.a.ry, Thrilling song, and 'trancing story, Live to-day in deathless glory, Thrill our souls anew!

Still their songs our b.r.e.a.s.t.s inspire, Still is theirs undying fame; Theirs the untaught poet-fire, That I may not hope to claim;-- Louder than the war-host das.h.i.+ng, Brighter than their bright spears clas.h.i.+ng, s.h.i.+ne their souls, like lightning flas.h.i.+ng Through their thunder-words!

Radiant Queen! Their songs combining Yield to thee their highest praise, Round thy brows of beauty twining, Fadeless garlands of their lays;-- Lays whose light our gloom has rifted, And our yearnings heavenward lifted, As we soar with them, the gifted, Far from earth away.

Queen of Beauty! Still we sing thee, Worthy of the poets' song; Willing homage still we bring thee As the ages roll along.

Songs of birds, and breath of flowers, Wind-notes, charming woodland bowers, Morn's fresh glories, gloaming hours, Yield their sweets to thee!

Now the prairie-lands are smiling With the wealth thy reign bestows, Brightness golden days beguiling, O'er smooth sands life's river flows.

Through the air glad sounds are ringing, Nature summer idylls singing, I, my simple off'ring bringing, Kneel at Summer's feet!

CHANGED.

It seems the same as it used to be, when I watched the sunset glow, In the days of beauty and gladness, the times of long ago; Like a light that is dim and far-off, for dark years, full of pain, Lie, rolled between me and the beautiful past, that never can come again!

Yet Ireland's hills are as verdant now, and the sun, as he sinks to rest, As then pours his parting glory, o'er Slieve Gallion's purple crest, A glory that brightens and lingers, as though it were fain to stay, Till the twilight shadows darken, and daylight dies away.

On Mullaboy the darkness looms weird on the lonely hill, The cattle have ceased their lowing, and the song-birds'

notes are still; And here, in the gloom and silence, 'neath the stars and the quiet sky, Old memories throng around me, of days long, long gone by.

Two scenes are ever fairest, and first in this heart of mine, And with clearer light and brighter, 'mong the dimmer phantoms s.h.i.+ne, And perfect in light and shadow, in tracing true and grand Are the pictures as memory paints them, with firm and master- hand.

The first is a cloudless moonlight, in calm and silvery sheen, And the range of the Morne Mountains in the dim background is seen; Beneath them the sea is rolling, all fair in the gentle light, And beauty and peace are blending in the hush of the summer night.

I gaze, till again in fancy, I hear the waves' soft roar, As they break in wild sweet music along Rostrevor's sh.o.r.e; And a voice with their song is blending telling the old sweet tale, Of a fond, true love, that through life's long years would never change or fail.

That picture fades before me and the second comes in view-- A walk 'neath o'er-arching beeches, with the sunlight glinting through Leaves that rustle and whisper on branches that wave above, A silent, tearful parting, the death of a deathless love!

Dead, and yet unforgotten, worn, but never estranged, The glory and brightness of morning to the darkness of midnight changed!

And life is dull and dreary, and joy from earth is fled, For the love that was light and beauty, and joy and peace, is dead.

SABBATH ON THE PRAIRIE.