Her soul is far away, In her childhood's land, perchance, Where her young sisters play, Where shines her mother's glance. Some old sweet native sound Her spirit haply weaves: A harmony profound Of woods with all their leaves; A murmur of the sea, A laughing tone of streams;Long may her sojourn be In the music land of dreams! Each voice of love is there, Each gleam of beauty fled, Each lost one still more fairOh! lightly, lightly tread! MRS. HEMANS. THE ANGLER. "I in these flowery meads would be; I with my angle would rejoice; IZAAK WALTON. THOU, that hast loved so long and well The vale's deep quiet streams, Where the pure water-lilies dwell, And o'er the pool the May-fly's wing Glances in golden eves of Spring. Oh! lone and lovely haunts are thine: Soft, soft the river flows, Wearing the shadow of thy line, One gliding vein of Heaven's own blue. And there but low sweet sounds are heard The whisper of the reed, The plashing trout, the rustling bird, The scythe upon the mead: Yet, through the murmuring osiers near, 'Tis not the stag, that comes to lave At noon his panting breast; 'Tis not the bittern, by the wave Seeking her sedgy nest; The air is fill'd with Summer's breath, The young flowers laugh-yet look! 'tis Death! But if, where silvery currents rove, Thy heart, grown still and sage, Then, lover of the silent hour, By deep lone waters past, And, wont on brighter worlds to dwell, 142 THE CYCLE OF LIFE. THE STREET MUSICIAN. AN Orpheus! an Orpheus!-he works on the crowd; What an eager assembly! what an empire is this! The weary have life, and the hungry have bliss; The mourner is cheer'd, and the anxious have rest; And the guilt-burden'd soul is no longer opprest. That errand-bound 'prentice was passing in haste-What matter! he's caught-and his time runs to waste; The newsman is stopp'd, though he stops on the fret; And the half-breathless lamplighter-he's in the net! The porter sits down on the weight which he bore; The lass with her barrow wheels hither her store;— If a thief could be here, he might pilfer at ease: She sees the musician-'tis all that she sees! That tall man, a giant in bulk and in height, |