Page:Summer on the lakes, in 1843.djvu/253

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EDITH.
243

camping out at night beneath the stars, would have given an interlude of such value to my existence. I shall not see the Pictured Rocks, their chapels and urns. It did not depend on me; it never has, whether such things shall be done or not.

My friends! may they see, and do, and be more, especially those who have before them a greater number of birthdays, and of a more healthy and unfettered existence:


TO EDITH, ON HER BIRTHDAY.
If the same star our fates together bind,
Why are we thus divided, mind from mind?
If the same law one grief to both impart,
How could'st thou grieve a trusting mother's heart?
 
Our aspiration seeks a common aim,
Why were we tempered of such differing frame?
— But 'tis too late to turn this wrong to right;
Too cold, too damp, too deep, has fallen the night.
 
And yet, the angel of my life replies,
Upon that night a Morning Star shall rise,
Fairer than that which ruled the temporal birth,
Undimmed by vapors of the dreamy earth;
 
It says, that, where a heart thy claim denies,
Genius shall read its secret ere it flies;
The earthly form may vanish from thy side,
Pure love will make thee still the spirit's bride.
 
And thou, ungentle, yet much loving child,
Whose heart still shows the “untamed haggard wild,”
A heart which justly makes the highest claim,
Too easily is checked by transient blame;