THE STORM.

BLINDING mist upon the whirlwind rides,

A Mingled of heaven's rain and ocean's spray,

And sea and sky behind its curtain hides,
Save when the lurid gleam of dying day

Breaks through the gathering storm its sudden
Glancing upon the sea-gull's snowy plume,
Or on some struggling vessel far away,
Tinging with deeper dye the clouds that loom
Around on every side, one canopy of gloom.

Now all the surface of the angry deep
Rises in foam-topped ridges, huge and tall,
The wild, ungovernable waves, that leap

way,

Like caged wild beasts against the cliff's high wall,
Struggling to burst their bounds, but, baffled all,
Sinking with sullen and sepulchral roar,

Back to their ocean bed in torrents fall,

Then gather up their strength to rise once more,

And break with thundering sound upon the rock-strewn shore.

W

THE CALM.

ITH never-ending movement, strong, but light,
The mighty ocean heaves its massive breast,

As though, the morning after some fierce fight,
There lay a giant warrior at rest.

The pebbly beach, with tangled seaweed drest,
Stretches its glistening strand in one wide sweep,
As the long wave lifts up its curling crest,

Then falls and breaks, far up the shore to creep,
With pleasant, murmuring music, ceaseless, clear, and deep.

The heavens above, bright, beautiful, and blue,
With here and there a fleecy cloud, appear;
The sea beneath rivals the sky in hue,
Far as the eye can range serene and clear.
The gallant ships their stately progress steer,
And to the sun their gleaming sails display;
And, o'er the heaving waters skimming near,
The wild sea-birds pursue their morning prey;
While sun-lit ripples dance upon the peaceful bay.

FADED FLOWERS.

ALE and scentless, dry and crumbled,
Though with care bestowed away;

PALE

To the dust your beauty humbled,
Like the dreams of yesterday,

Which, like you, were lately blowing

In their prime,

Joy and sweetness round them throwing

All their time.

But, though withered now I find you,

Shorn of all your former grace,

You have left a joy behind you
That no change can e'er efface:

In my heart you still are living

As of yore,

There your scent and beauty giving
Evermore.

C

THE RIVER THAMES.

LEAR, calm, and peaceful, noiseless, still, and deep, Save when the cloud-cast shadows o'er them sweep, Or glistening ripples in the sunshine leap,

Onward the gentle waters slowly creep,

Beneath some hill, thick-wooded, high, and steep,
Beside some ivy-covered, ruined heap,

Where frowned of yore the battlemented keep,

Or lone churchyard, where generations sleep;
Through meadows green, dotted with kine and sheep,
Or harvest-fields, where busy labourers reap;

By banks o'er which the hanging willows weep,

While through the distant bridge thick-clustered houses peep.

THE RAIN.

HE earth lies bare beneath the sun,

TH

The thirsty flow'rs droop one by one, And dry the parched-up brook hath run.

Down falls the blessing of the rain,
The brook revived flows on amain,
And the flow'rs raise their heads again.

So oft the heart of man doth lie, Languished the hopes that once were high, And every spring within it dry.

The welcome show'rs refreshing pour,

Its pulse beats happy as before,

And up to heav'n it looks once more.