Short Poems

A LONG comes Love,
In the semblance of a boy,
And he rings a little bell,
And he sings a little song:
Lo, the change thereof!
Heaven after hell,
Beauty healing wrong,
And grief turned joy!

At times, when, with an anguish all too keen,
The violin doth tensely tell of grief,
Tugging at heart-strings till the tale, I ween,
Is over-cruel, calls for some relief:
I joy to hear, like cooings of lost doves,
The grave viola plaining of old loves.

Children their parents', towers the city's pride,
Steeds grace the champain, ships the briny tide,
And wealth the splendid mansion; still more bright
Beams from that hallow'd dome the sacred light
Where monarchs sit, by awful heaven consign'd
To judge the various rights of humankind.

Revere the race whose hospitable dome
Yields to the houseless wanderer a home.
Cuma's high towers plac'd in the plains below,
Where proud Sardene lifts her woody brow,
Sacred to Jove where Hermus' waters flow;
O bear me to those walls, secure to find
The liberal heart, join'd to the prudent mind.

Castor and Pollux, tuneful Muse, now sing;
The offspring of the cloud-compelling king,
When on Taygetus' high-rising crest
The son of Saturn lovely Leda press'd.
Hail, ye Tyndaridae, well skill'd to train
The fiery courser for the' embattled plain.

The broadening of the light is like a strain
Of mellow music from a golden horn
Set to the huntsman's lips, who now is fain
To play hunt's up , and wake the drowsy morn.

Severely pleas'd, and heedless of its smart,
When idly, you torment my doating heart,
Then, trust me, to Yourself you're cruel grown,
For ah! dear maid! that heart is — all your own .

High seated on thy golden throne above,
The sister and the spouse of thundering Jove, —
Daughter of Rhea! heaven's immortal queen,
In form excelling and majestic mien;
With equal zeal by all the gods ador'd,
As aegis-bearing Jove, Olympus' lord.

Why , still so anxious, friend of mine,
To seek the mystic aid of Nine ?
Thy prospect, and thy Patron gone,
'Tis time to think of Number O NE .

Original , and Copy, too,
Seem closely with the Art acquainted;
The likeness, therefore, is quite true,
For both are — very highly painted .