A SKETCH FROM REAL LIFE. 209 Bow down her fair but fragile form, her brilliant brow o'ercast, And make her beauty-like her bliss-a shadow of the past! Years came and went-we met again,—but what a change was there! The glossy calmness of the eye, that whispered of despair; The fitful flushing of the cheek-the lips compressed and thin, The clench of the attenuate hands,--proclaimed the strife within! Yet for each ravaged charm of earth some pitying power had given Beauty, of more than mortal birth-a spell that breathed of heaven; And as she bent, resigned and meek, beneath the chastening blow, With all a martyr's fervid faith her features seemed to glow! No wild reproach, no bitter word, in that sad hour was spoken, For hopes deceived, for love betrayed, and plighted pledges broken ; Like Him who for his murderers prayed, she wept, but did not chide, And her last orisons arose for him for whom she died! Thus, thus, too oft the traitor man repays fond woman's truth; Thus blighting, in his wild caprice, the blossoms of her youth: And sad it is, in griefs like these, o'er visions loved and lost, That the truest and the tenderest heart must always suffer most! THE LAST SWALLOW. BY RICHARD HOWITT. AWAY, away, why dost thou linger here, Whilst the dull leaves with wailful winds are stirred? Haste, haste to other climes, thou solitary bird! Thy coming was in lovelier skies-thy wing, And from the sky of beauty darkness lours: Thy coming was with hope, but thou didst stay 'Midst melancholy thoughts, that dwell upon decay. Blessed are they who have before thee fled! Soaring to beautiful worlds on wings sublime; Then fade into the grave-and go without a tear. BRING BACK THE CHAIN! BY THE HON. MRS. NORTON. Ir was an aged man, who stood "Bring back the chain, whose weight so long These tortured limbs have vainly borne; The word of Freedom from your tongue, My weary ear rejects with scorn! 'Tis true, there was-there was a time, I sighed, I panted to be free; And, pining for my sunny clime, Bowed down my stubborn knee. "Then I have stretched my yearning arms, That freedom ye, at length, bestow, And bid me bless my envied fate: "The boundless hope-the spring of joy, Felt when the spirit's strength is young; Which slavery only can alloy, The mockeries to which I clung,— 212 BRING BACK THE CHAIN. The eyes, whose fond and sunny ray 66 Bring back the chain! its clanking sound think "Bring back the chain! that I may Dream as I dreamt-of bitter woe! "Freedom! though doomed in pain to live, COULDST THOU BUT KNOW. BY LADY CAROLINE LAMB. COULDST thou but know what 'tis to weep- The livelong night, whilst others sleep, Thou wouldst not do what I have done. Couldst thou but know what 'tis to smile, A heart that knows more grief than guile,— And, oh! if thou couldst think how drear, If thou, like me, to none wert dear,- ABJURATION. BY MISS BOWLES. THERE was a time-sweet time of youthful folly ! And, like a lover-like a jealous lover, (Lest vulgar eyes her sweetness should discover), Close in the inmost chambers of mine heart. |