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, Breaks through the gathering storm its sudden Now all the surface of the angry deep way, Like caged wild beasts against the cliff's high wall, 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, As though, the morning after some fierce fight, The pebbly beach, with tangled seaweed drest, Then falls and breaks, far up the shore to creep, The heavens above, bright, beautiful, and blue, FADED FLOWERS. ALE and scentless, dry and crumbled, PALE To the dust your beauty humbled, 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 In my heart you still are living As of yore, There your scent and beauty giving 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, Where frowned of yore the battlemented keep, Or lone churchyard, where generations sleep; 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, 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. |