Bird of Columbia! well art thou The admiration of the earth, In grand simplicity she stands; Like thee, the storms beheld her birth, And she was nursed by rugged hands; But, past the fierce and furious war, Her rising fame new glory brings, For kings and nobles come from far To seek the shelter of her wings. And like thee, rider of the cloud, She mounts the heavens, serene and proud Great in a pure and noble fame, Great in her spotless champion's name, And destined in her day to be Mighty as Rome-more nobly free. My native land! my native land! To whom my thoughts will fondly turn For her the warmest hopes expand, For her the heart with fears will yearn Oh! may she keep her eye, like thee, Proud eagle of the rocky wild, Fix'd on the sun of liberty, By rank, by faction unbeguiled; Remembering still the rugged road Our venerable fathers trod, When they through toil and danger press'd, And from each lip the caution fell To those who follow'd, "Guard it well." CHARLES WEST THOMSON. THE ISLAND OF ATLANTIS. OH thou Atlantic, dark and deep, Where all the tribes of earth might sleep The sunbeams on thy bosom wake, Thou thing of mystery, stern and drear, There lie their myriads in thy pall, Yet on this wave the mountain's brow And, like an arrow from the bow, Out sprang the stream; And on its bank the olive grove, And the damask rose-the night-bird's love- Where art thou, proud Atlantis, now? Crime deepen'd on the recreant land, There power uprear'd the bloody hand, The word sent forth-the word of woe- Now on its halls of ivory Lie giant weed and ocean slime, Burying from man's and angel's eye The land of crime. CROLY. BISHOP HATTO. THE summer and the autumn had been so wet, Every day the starving poor At last Bishop Hatto appointed a day And they should have food for the winter there. Rejoiced such tidings good to hear, Then when he saw it could hold no more, "I'faith 't is an excellent bonfire!" quoth he, So then to his palace returned he, In the morning as he enter'd the hall As he look'd there came a man from his farm, He had a countenance white with alarm. My Lord, I open'd your granaries this morn, And the rats had eaten all your corn." Another came running presently, "Fly, my Lord Bishop, fly," quoth he, 66 Ten thousand rats are coming this way, The Lord forgive you for yesterday!" I'll go to my tower in the Rhine," replied he, "Tis the safest place in Germany, The walls are high and the shores are steep, And the strearn is strong and the water deep." Bishop Hatto fearfully hasten'd away, He laid him down and closed his eyes; He started and saw two eyes of flame On his pillow from whence the screaming came. He listen'd and look'd; it was only the Cat; At the army of rats that were drawing near. For they have swum over the rivers so deep, Down on his knees the Bishop fell, And faster and faster his beads did he tell, The saw of their teeth without he could hear. And in at the windows and in at the door, From the right and the left, from behind and before, They have whetted their teeth against the stones, SOUTHEY. |