I know how softly bright, Steep'd in that tender light, The water-lilies tremble there, e'en now; Go to the pure stream's edge, And from its whispering sedge Bring me those flowers, to cool my fever'd brow. Then, as in hope's young days, Track thou the antique maze Of the rich garden, to its grassy mound; There is a lone white rose, Shedding, in sudden snows, Its faint leaves o'er the emerald turf around. Well know'st thou that fair tree! -A murmur of the bee Dwells ever in the honied lime above; Bring me one pearly flower, Of all its clustering shower For on that spot we first reveal'd our love! Gather one woodbine bough, Then, from the lattice low Of the bower'd cottage which I bade thee mark, When by the hamlet last Through dim wood-lanes we pass'd, Where dews were glancing to the glow-worm's spark. Haste! to my pillow bear Those fragrant things, and fair My hand no more may bind them up at eve; Yet shall their odor soft One bright dream round me waft, Of life, youth, summer-all that I must leave! The And oh! if thou wouldst ask, Wherefore thy steps I task grove, the stream, the hamlet-vale to trace ; When I am gone, may be The spirit bound to each familiar place. I bid mine image dwell, (Oh! break thou not the spell!) In the deep wood, and by the fountain side- Rove where we two have rov'd, Forgetting her that in her spring-time died. A MONARCH'S DEATH-BED. The Emperor Albert of Hapsburg, who was assassinated by his nephew, afterwards called John the Parricide, was left to die by the way-side, and was supported in his last moments by a female peasant, who happened to be passing. A MONARCH on his death-bed lay- And soft lamps pour their silvery ray, Through his proud chamber's gloom? He lay upon a greensward bed, Beneath a darkening sky― A lone tree waving o'er his head, Had he then fallen, as warriors fall, Where spear strikes fire from spear? Was there a banner for his pall, A buckler for his bier ? Not so-nor cloven shields nor helms Had strewn the bloody sod, Where he, the helpless lord of realins, Yielded his soul to God. Were there not friends, with words of cheer, Upon her bosom laid; And, shrinking not for woman's dread, The face of death survey'd. Alone she sat-from hill and wood Red sank the mournful sun; Fast gush'd the fount of noble blood, Treason its worst had done! With her long hair she vainly press'd The wounds, to stanch their tideUnknown, on that meek humble breast, Imperial Albert died! THE HOUR OF DEATH. LEAVES have their time to fall, And flowers to wither at the north-wind's breath, Thou hast all seasons for thine own, oh! Death. Day is for mortal care, Eve for glad meetings round the joyous hearth, The banquet hath its hour, prayer Its feverish hour of mirth, and song, and wine; A time for softer tears-but all are thine. Youth and the opening rose May look like things too glorious for decay, That wait the ripen'd bloom to seize their prey. |