Of thee-of thee, my early friend,
The playmate of my infant years-
What other thoughts with thine can blend
That a whole youth of love endears?
The soft, the kind, and oh! the true,
In sun and shade, in good and ill-
My cheering light-my softening dew
Who loved me, and who loves me still!
Yes, there are redder cheeks than thine,
And brighter eyes indeed may be;-
Pictures! But ah! the charm divine
They want-life-giving memory.
Like summer lightnings, these may play
Fantastic round my careless heart ;
But, lost in thy calm daylight, they
"Like shadows come, and so depart."
Farewell, farewell, my early friend!
Farewell, farewell, my only love!
With this no mean suspicions blend,
No dream of change, no thought to prove.
My tried! my true! thou art to me
A holy faith- -a sainted shrine;
As soon my soul could fall from thee
As doubt the heavenly truth of thine.
THE anchor was weighed; and light-breathed gales Courted the yet coy fluttering sails,
Which yielded slowly their bosoms fair
To be fanned and swelled by that wanton air;
And hope in each heart on that deck was high,
And joy was lighted in every eye;
For they were not going, as erst, to roam,
But from a far land returning home.
They had sojourned many a weary day
Under India's sun, and its death-fraught ray;
And sickness and sorrowings some had seen,
And some had in nobler dangers been;
But all alike were in gladness now,
And there was not a sad nor a clouded brow,
As the sails were unfurled, and the anchor weighed
And in the light breezes the pennon played.
Yet I may not say that there flowed not a tear,
For where is the land so unblessed and drear,
In which long years of stay will not tend
To raise for the lone heart a love or a friend?
Oh! such a clime, if there be, is accurst,
Where neither friendship nor love is nursed :
Yes! there were tears and half-breathed sighs That told of severed sympathies:
But let them pass.—The sails at last
Were forced by the jealous wind from the mast,
Where they had clung, like a new-made bride,
In timid love, to her mother's side;
And proudly the vessel her way held on,
Till the land from the lingering eye was gone.
A sky there was like a woman's smile,—
But smiles and skies, though bright, beguile!
And the sea was as calm with its waters blue
As the mildest eye it might match in hue:
Nor was there seen in that wide expanse
One sign of ill by the seamen's glance;
And they are well used to the treachery
Of the shining heavens, and the quiet sea;
But here there was no one doubt expressed,
And hope was unchecked in every breast.
It is a beauteous thing to see
The ocean slumbering tranquilly;
Its waves as harmless as a child,
And its blue surface calm and mild,
As is a pensive beauty's face,
When first to faint smiles tears give place;
And the light winds almost afraid
Lest their soft breathings, as they played
So gently o'er the heaving breast
Of ocean, might disturb its rest.—
The lover thus who softly steals
Where sleep his loved one's eyelids seals,
Beneath some cool sequestered shade
In the warm flush of beauty laid,
Still trembles, as he fondly gazes,
At every leaf the zephyr raises,
And fears that even his silent glance
May wake her from that rosy trance.—
Above, there was a beauteous sky,
And it appeared, in Fancy's eye,
To look upon the placid water,
Like a fond mother on her daughter;
And if a cloud, however light,
Broke on the blue with its fleecy white,
The playful breeze would waft it o'er,
And all be stainless as before ;-
Such fleecy cloud as transient proves
As woman's anger, where she loves.
And who, 'mid such a gentle scene,
Of elemental calm serene,
Would think that furious discord ever,
Such tranquil union could dissever?
Could those small sportive waves transform
To mountains, foaming 'neath the storm?
While yon blue heaven arrayed in black
Should urge the tempest's ruthless track,
And on its lightning death-shafts hurled,
Send desolation through the world!
As well might we expect to see
The infant, from its parent's knee,
With head reposing on her heart,
Into quick strength and fury start,
As those unagitated seas,
And that almost too timid breeze,
And the mild heaven, put forth such rage,
And such relentless conflicts wage.
Gay were the breasts in that stately ship,
And joy from the heart still flew to the lip;
For they were in blissful ignorance yet
Of the fate to be borne and the dangers met :
And from care, and grief, and ill-boding free,
Some gazed upon the glittering sea,
And communed with their own musings only,
Blessed in glad thoughts, though a moment lonely.
And two there were on the decks who strayed,
In new love plighted - a youth and a maid;
With their young bosoms in that sweet thrall,
When in one dear object the heart holds all.
The youth's dark eye beamed ardently,
As he spoke of the land—he was doomed not to see!
And of blissful days that awaited him there,
When he claimed as his own that bosom fair.
And though with his rapture she might not speak,
There was answer enough in that young girl's cheek:
And hope sprung up in her pensive eye,
And it might be seen that her heart beat high,
Her glance was down; but her light brown hair
Was fanned from her forehead by the air;
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