But frost had reared the gorgeous Pile Unsound as those which Fortune builds- To undermine with secret guile, Sapped by the very beam that gilds.
And, while I gazed, with sudden shock Fell the whole Fabric to the ground; And naked left this dripping Rock, With shapeless ruin spread around!
ONE Flower, hemmed in with snows and white
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead; as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, way-lay The rising sun, and on the plains descend; Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May Shall soon behold this border thickly set With bright jonquils, their odors lavishing On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers; Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snow-drop, venturous harbinger of Spring, And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
TRANSLATED FROM CHIABRERA.
WEEP not, beloved Friends! nor let the air
For me with sighs be troubled. Not from life
Have I been taken; this is genuine life
And this alone-the life which now I live
In peace eternal; where desire and joy Together move in fellowship without end- Francesco Ceni after death enjoined
That thus his tomb should speak for him. And
Small cause there is for that fond wish of ours
Long to continue in this world; a world
That keeps not faith, nor yet can point a hope
To good, whereof itself is destitute.
THERE never breathed a man who, when his life Was closing, might not of that life relate Toils long and hard.—The warrior will report Of wounds, and bright swords flashing in the field, And blasts of trumpets. He who hath been doomed To bow his forehead in the courts of kings, Will tell of fraud and never-ceasing hate, Envy and heart-inquietude, derived From intricate cabals of treacherous friends. I, who on shipboard lived from earliest youth, Could represent the countenance horrible
Of the vexed waters, and the indignant rage Of Auster and Boötes. Fifty years
Over the well-steered galleys did I rule:— From huge Pelorus to the Atlantic pillars Rises no mountain to mine eyes unknown; And the broad gulfs I traversed oft and oft Of every cloud which in the heavens might stir I knew the force; and hence the rough sea's pride Availed not to my Vessel's overthrow.
What noble pomp and frequent have not I On regal decks beheld! yet in the end.
I learned that one poor moment can suffice To equalize the lofty and the low.
We sail the sea of life-a Calm One finds, And One a Tempest-and, the voyage o'er, Death is the quiet haven of us all.
If more of my condition ye would know, Savona was my birth-place, and I sprang Of noble parents: seventy years and three Lived I-then yielded to a slow disease.
O FLOWER of all that springs from gentle blood, And all that generous nurture breeds to make Youth amiable; O friend so true of soul To fair Aglaia; by what envy moved, Lelius! has death cut short thy brilliant day In its sweet opening? and what dire mishap Has from Savona torn her best delight?
For thee she mourns, nor e'er will cease to mourn; And, should the outpourings of her eyes suffice not
For her heart's grief, she will entreat Sebeto Not to withhold his bounteous aid, Sebeto Who saw thee, on his margin, yield to death, In the chaste arms of thy beloved Love! What profit riches? what does youth avail? Dust are our hopes;-I, weeping bitterly, Penned these sad lines, nor can forbear to pray That every gentle Spirit hither led
May read them not without some bitter tears.
By a blest Husband guided, Mary came From nearest kindred, Vernon her new name; She came, though meek of soul, in seemly pride Of happiness and hope, a youthful Bride. O dread reverse! if aught be So, which proves That God will chasten whom he dearly loves. Faith bore her up through pains in mercy given, And troubles that were each a step to heaven: Two Babes were laid in earth before she died; A third now slumbers at the Mother's side; Its Sister-twin survives, whose smiles afford A trembling solace to her widowed Lord.
Reader! if to thy bosom cling the pain Of recent sorrow combated in vain;
Or if thy cherished grief have failed to thwart Time still intent on his insidious part, Lulling the mourner's best good thoughts asleep, Pilfering regrets we would, but cannot, keep;
Bear with Him-judge Him gently who makes known
His bitter loss by this memorial Stone;
pray that in his faithful breast the grace Of resignation find a hallowed place.
THREE YEARS SHE GREW.
THREE years she grew in sun and shower, Then Nature said, "A lovelier flower
On earth was never sown ;
This Child I to myself will take;
She shall be mine, and I will make
A Lady of my own.
Myself will to my darling be
Both law and impulse and with me
The Girl, in rock and plain,
In earth and heaven, in glade and bower, Shall feel an overseeing power
To kindle or restrain.
She shall be sportive as the fawn That wild with glee across the lawn Or up the mountain springs;
And her's shall be the breathing balm,
And her's the silence and the calm
Of mute insensate things.
The floating clouds their state shall lend
To her; for her the willow bend,
Nor shall she fail to see
Even in the motions of the Storm
Grace that shall mould the Maiden's form By silent sympathy.
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