For wounded breasts) is seated on her brow, And ever to the tempest bends she now, Even as a drooping lily, which the wind Sways as it lists. The sweet affections bind Her sympathies to earth; her peaceful soul Has long aspired to that immortal goal, Where pain and anguish cease to be our lot, And the world's cares and frailties are forgot! FULL many a gloomy month hath past, On flagging wing, regardless by,- In strains of wildest minstrelsy! For all my joys are withered now,— The hopes, I most relied on, thwarted, And sorrow hath o'erspread my brow With many a shade since last we parted: Yet, 'mid that murkiness of lot, Young Peri, thou art unforgot! II. There are who love to trace the smile The dictates of the bosom break ;- None ;-his must be a stubborn heart, And strange to every softer feeling, Who from thy glance could bear to part Cold and unmoved-without revealing Some portion of the fond regret Which dimmed my eye when last we met! III. Sweet bud of Beauty!-'Mid the thrillThe anguished thrill of hope delayed,Peril-and pain-and every ill That can the breast of man invade, No tender thought of thine and thee Hath faded from my memory; But I have dwelt on each dear form, "Till woe, awhile, gave place to gladness,. And that remembrance seemed to charm, Almost to peace, my bosom's sadness ;— And now, again, I breathe a lay To hail thee on thy natal day! IV. O! might the fondest prayers prevail To save thee from affliction's tears ; And the wild sparkle of thine eye Thy guilelessness of soul revealing Beam ever thus, as beauteously, Undimmed-save by those gems of feeling— Those soft, luxurious drops which flow, In pity, for another's woe! V. But vain the thought!-It may not be!— Then, those who guard thine opening bloom Sure they would ne'er have felt its weight, In one bright endless chain of love! VI. Then since upon this earth, joy's beams That steal upon the mourner's slumber,— Sweet one! I'll wish thee strength to bear The ills that Heaven may bid thee share; |