Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 130.djvu/778

TO SUMMER.

Summer, summer, lovely summer,
List, O list to what I say;
Is thy reign so quickly ended?
Canst thou, then, no longer stay?

Autumn cometh, crowned with glory;
What is that, I pray, to me?
All my soul the dearest loveth,
Summer, is entwined with thee.

'Mid thy green leaves' shimmering glory,
Waving in the baliny air,
Hope peers forth, with smile entrancing,
Tells me life is passing fair.

And the roses' bloomy petals
Whisper softly in mine ear
Breezy poems, sweet romances,
Tender songs I love to hear.

Velvet pansies, nodding near me,
Tell of happy, golden hours,
And some, useful, heaven-taught lesson
Do I learn from all the flowers.

Waving ferns, by brooklets springing,
Perfumed lilies, fair of face,
Whisper low of modest virtue,
Purity and joy and grace.

With the spring my fond hopes budded,
And in thy rich loveliness
Have they grown, and bloomed and blossomed
Into ripest perfectness.

And when autumn leaves are faded,
And the winds of winter blow,
Shall they, like thy peaceful beauty,
Hidden lie beneath the snow?

Summer, summer, lovely summer,
If thy parting hour is near,
Leave me peace and love and blessings,
Guardian angels for the year.

Summer, may thy memory linger
In my heart forevermore,
And, the dreary winter ended,
May I welcome thee once more.

Transcript.

K. M. K.

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HOPE.

Within the heart a merry bird
Poured out through life's dull toils its music sweet;
What though one soul alone its warblings heard,
And to itself its carols would repeat.

Tempest nor cold could drive the bird away —
Through leafless boughs still swept its tireless song;
Sadder, perhaps, when skies were lowering, gray,
But with the rosy tints how loud, how long.

Hunger nor thirst could bid the bird depart,
Around for want's scant crumbs it warbling flew;
In the forsaken chambers of the heart,
Through poverty, its lays the sweeter grew.

And when despair the cage wide open set,
Still did it linger, still it would not go —
Its daily welcome it could not forget,
It had its cheering notes even for woe!

And when affection's hand must loose its hold,
And loving accents fail the death-dulled ear,
Still in the heart its wings 't will softly fold,
Still will its song the passing spirit cheer.

Salem. Transcript.

Lydia L. A. Vere.

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JUST A FEW WORDS.

Just a few words, but they blinded
The brightness all out of a day;
Just a few words, but they lifted
The shadows and cast them away.

Oh! the pain of the wounds,
Of the harden'd word's sting;
Oh! the balm and the brightness
That kind ones will bring.

Only a frown, but it dampen'd
The cheer of a dear little heart;
Only a smile, but its sweetness
Check'd tears that were ready to start.

Sullen frowns — how they chill,
Happy smiles — how they lure
One to smile, one to raise,
One to kill, one to cure.

Oh that the rules of our living
More like to the golden would be!
Much, oh! so much more of sunshine
Would go out from you and from me.

Less profession, more truth,
In our every-day life,
More justice, then surely,
Lighter hearts and less strife.

For better and kinder we all mean to be.
But there's lack in the thinking of both you and me.

Transcript.

Georgiana Nourse.