ARM whispering through the slender olive leaves Came to me a gentle sound, Whispering of a secret found. In the clear sunshine 'mid the golden sheaves: Said it was sleeping for me in the morn, Drew me on "Come hither, boy " To where the blue wings rested on the corn. I thought the gentle sound had whispered trueThought the little heaven mine, Leaned to clutch the thing divine, And saw the blue wings melt within the blue. GEORGE ELIOT. AFTER-THOUGHT. AN dwells apart, though not alone, He walks among his peers unread ; Yet dreaming on earth's clustered isles, Flash far beyond each other's ken. He looks on God's eternal suns, And saith, "Ah! happy shining ones, Yet this is sure the loveliest star That clustered with its peers we see, Only because from us so far Doth near its fellows seem to be. JEAN INGELOW. ISOLATION. ES! in the sea of life enisled, With echoing straits between us thrown, We mortal millions live alone. The islands feel the enclasping flow, But when the moon their billows lights, And lovely notes, from shore to shore, Oh then a longing like despair For surely once, they feel, we were Parts of a single continent! Now round us spreads the watery plain- Oh might our marges meet again! Who order'd that their longing's fire MATTHEW ARNOLD. THE SOLITUDE OF LIFE. SHEN Fancy's exhalations rise Our eyes seem made for others' eyes, But time the truthful faith controls,— We learn too soon, alas! How wide the gulf between two souls, How difficult to pass! In twilight and in fearfulness We feel our path along From heart to heart, yet none the less And then new dangers must be faced, New doubts must be dispelled,— For not one step can be retraced |