Return, Sweet Day

I

Return, O Day, from out the vanished years
Where now no fires on ruined altars burn;
I give you all Love's tenderness and tears:
Return, sweet Day, return!

II

The same sweet stars are in the heavens of blue,
The same sad lessons Life hath still to learn.
I am aweary for the love of you:
Kind Day, return — return!

III

So brief the time — so rain-dark with Love's tears —

Secret Love. Motherwort

MOTHERWORT .

Yes! tell him — tell him I am well,
Say that this cheek doth deeper glow,
Than was its wont — but do not tell,
'Tis the heart's fever makes it so!

And tell him how my lip has curled,
And named his name with idle smile;
But do not tell him for the world,
That tears were in mine eyes the while!

Illustration of Plate. Crwon Imperial and Turk's Cap Lilies — Lily of the Valley

Crown Imperial and Turk's Cap Lilies. — Lily of the Valley.

Will you say no, dear,
When soft and low, dear,
Love pleads for love, which you only can give?
Will you then fly me?
Can you deny me?
One little " yes " would allow me to live.

Care hovers o'er me,
Clouds, wild and stormy,
Darken before me — but one smile of thine,
Through sorrow's haze, love,
Softly can raise, love,
Hope's sunny rainbow — bright and benign!

Love's Renewal

Love's sun, like that of day, may set, and set,
It hath as bright a rising in the morn.
True love has no grey hairs; his golden locks
Can never whiten with the snows of time.
Sorrow lies drear on many a youthful heart,
Like snow upon the evergreens; but love
Can gather sweetest honey by the way,
E'en from the carcass of some prostrate grief. —
We have been spoiled with blessings. Though the world
Holds nothing dearer than the hope that's fled,
God ever opens up new founts of bliss —
Spiritual Bethsaidas where the soul

Songs

1.

Ah, the symmetry how dainty
Of the limbs uprearing slender!
On the little neck, how charming
Of the lovely head the poise is!

Half alluring, half pathetic
Is the face, whereon the glances
Of a woman mingle warmly
With a child's unsullied laughter.

Were there not upon thy shoulders
Here and there, like sombre shadows,
Of the dust of earth some traces,
I should liken thee to Venus —

To the goddess Aphrodite,
Rising lovely from the ocean,
Sweetly blooming, fair and shining,

The Philosopher to His Love

Dearest, a look is but a ray
Reflected in a certain way;
A word, whatever tone it wear,
Is but a trembling wave of air;
A touch, obedience to a clause
In nature's pure material laws.

The very flowers that bend and meet,
In sweetening others, grow more sweet;
The clouds by day, the stars by night,
Inweave their floating locks of light;
The rainbow, Heaven's own forehead's braid,
Is but the embrace of sun and shade.

How few that love us have we found!
How wide the world that girds them round!

Epitaph 1

I

From his far isle the gentle stranger came
Who taught our lips to love his liquid name,
Found a new home beneath our western sky
Won all our hearts and left us but to die.

Brother, You'll Take My Hand

Not to the sober and staid,
Leading a quiet life,
But to men whose paths are laid
Ever through storm and strife —
Here is a song from me,
Sent to the tragic West,
Message of sympathy
To the hearts that can never rest.
This is the song I send
Out to the Western land —
Sinner, and martyr, and friend,
Brother! you'll take my hand.

To you who have loved and lost;

I Will Think of It. White Daisy

WHITE DAISY .

" I dare not yet your prayers requite! "
Exclaimed a fearful beauty;
" In Reason's golden scales, sir knight,
I 'll weigh my love and duty. "

Love drooped his wings in grief and shame: —
The scales began to waver; —
But then — a sigh, so heavy , came —
It turned them in his favour.

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