Page:Peterson's Magazine 1842, Volume I.pdf/211

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176
THE LADY'S
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and to prevent the opportunity of our meeting, he deserted his native country. Fate still decreed that he should not pass in the ease and luxury of a quiet mind, for he seemed as if he had been haunted by me more like an evil genius than a human being, to remedy which he planned all those ills, and endeavored to have me banished the kingdom . The Emperor, after due deliberation, restored me my long lost wife; and, as a recompence for my misfortunes, he has returned me to my native land, with a sufficient annuity to spend my days in ease and happiness, which we now enjoy, and of which we have been so long deprived. Never does night unfold its sable curtains, but our hearty orisons are poured forth for health and happiness for him who has been so kind, and our humble thanks to the Giver of all Good

By fairy hands its towers were raised From out the cold and sluggish tide, And voiceless forms their revels kept Within its chambers cold and wide. The flashing light of polar skies For ages on its grandeur gleamed ; In silence on its pillars fell, And through its gothic casements streamed. A thousand days, a thousand years In cold sublimity it stood ; A thousand storms its turrets shook, And lashed its base in angry mood. "Till from the silent frozen zone, The endless winter of the north ; A fairy fabric, vast and rude, It broke its way and floated forth! And still as e'er, it saileth on, A silver castle on the sea ; No landmark marks its onward course As o'er the waves it saileth free.

THE ICE BERG . BY M. RUSSELL THAYER. LOOK out! Look out ! and see A castle on the deep ; A floating castle high and strong, With buttress huge and bastion steep. No warder treads its silent tower, No guard keeps watch below ; No voice within its lofty halls, Save the Ocean's ceaseless flow. Its walls are high, its walls are strong, While arch on arch lies piled on high ; Its awful gate is open flung, But no victor draweth nigh!

In tropic climes its turrets rise As fair as ' neath the arctic sky, And fragrant winds around it play, And through its ruined arches sigh. Oh, we unto the hapless ship That in its swift and gallant flight ; The castle of the ocean met, In the still and voiceless night !

No warning broke from out its walls, No beacon from its portals shone ; The struggling ship with terror reeled, Then plunged and sank in depths unknown! The ' ll dream no more ! They'll dream no more Of singing lark and woodbine bower ; In sea-green caves they slumber now To wake, to weep, to dream no more !

No trumpet shakes its vaulted roof, No banner to the breeze is flung ; No prancing steeds within its court, No steel-clad men its aisles among. No minstrel's harp beneath the tower Breathes forth its wild and plaintive notes ; No minstrel's voice upon the air In soft and varied numbers floats. No clambering vines steal o'er the tower, Or wreath their arms around its walls ; The sea-weed clings unto its base, And from each arch in clusters falls. No cagle buildeth here his nest, And plumes his wings for distant shores ; The sea-bird screameth ' round its base, Then high above its ramparts soars. No mortal reared its giant walls Above the deep and rolling tide ; No cunning builder laid its stones Or reared its portals huge and wide.

IT IS A BEAUTEOUS EVENING . BY WORDSWORTH. IT is a beauteous evening, calm and free ; The holy time is quiet as a nun Breathless with adoration ; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity ; The gentleness of heaven is on the sea ; Listen !-the mighty Being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder -everlastingly. Dear child ! dear girl ! that walkest with me here, If thou appear'st untouch'd by solemn thought, Thy nature is not, therefore, less divine ; Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year, And worship'st at the temple's inner shrine, God being with thee when we know it not.