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When the wing of the sea-bird
Is turn'd to her nest,
And the thought of the sailor
To all he loves best!

'Tis lone on the waters-
That hour hath a spell-
To bring back sweet voices,
With words of farewell!

TO THE MEMORY OF A SISTER-IN-LAW.

WE miss thy voice while early flowers are blowing, And the first flush of blossom clothes each bough, And the Spring sunshine round our home is glowing Soft as thy smile. Thou should'st be with us now.

With us? we wrong thee by the earthly thought. Could our fond gaze but follow where thou art, Well might the glories of this world seem nought To the one promise given the pure in heart.

Yet wert thou blest e'en here-oh! ever blest
In thine own sunny thoughts and tranquil faith!
The silent joy that still o'erflow'd thy breast,
Needed but guarding from all change, by death.

So is it seal'd to peace !—on thy clear brow

Never was care one fleeting shade to cast; And thy calm days in brightness were to flow A holy stream, untroubled to the last.

TO AN ORPHAN.

Farewell! thy life hath left surviving love

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A wealth of records, and sweet "feelings given," From sorrow's heart the faintness to remove,

By whispers breathing "less of earth than heaven."*

Thus rests thy spirit still on those with whom
Thy step the paths of joyous duty trod,
Bidding them make an altar of thy tomb,

Where chasten'd thought may offer praise to God.
April 1826.

*

TO AN ORPHAN.

THOU hast been rear'd too tenderly,
Beloved too well and long,
Watch'd by too many a gentle eye-
Now look on life-be strong!

Too quiet seem'd thy joys for change,

Too holy and too deep;

Bright clouds, through summer skies that range,

Seem oft-times thus to sleep :

:

To sleep in silvery stillness bound,
As things that ne'er may melt;
Yet gaze again-no trace is found
To show thee where they dwelt.

Alluding to the lines she herself quoted but an hour before her death:

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"Some feelings are to mortals given.

VOL. VI.

With less of earth in them than heaven."

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This world hath no more love to give
Like that which thou hast known;
Yet the heart breaks not-we survive
Our treasures-and bear on.

But oh too beautiful and blest
Thy home of youth hath been!
Where shall thy wing, poor bird, find rest,
Shut out from that sweet scene?

Kind voices from departed years

Must haunt thee many a day;

Looks that will smite the source of tears.
Across thy soul must play.

Friends-now the altered or the dead,

And music that is

gone

A gladness o'er thy dreams will shed,
And thou shalt wake-alone.

Alone! it is in that deep word
That all thy sorrow lies;
How is the heart to courage stirr'd
By smiles from kindred eyes!

And are these lost ?-and have I said
To aught like thee-be strong?
-So bid the willow lift its head
And brave the tempest's wrong!

Thou reed! o'er which the storm hath pass'd—
Thou shaken with the wind!

HYMN BY THE SICKBED OF A MOTHER.

On one, one friend thy weakness cast-
There is but One to bind !

HYMN BY THE SICKBED OF A MOTHER.

FATHER! that in the olive shade
When the dark hour came on,
Didst, with a breath of heavenly aid,
Strengthen thy Son;

Oh! by the anguish of that night,
Send us down bless'd relief;
Or to the chasten'd, let thy might
Hallow this grief!

And Thou, that when the starry sky
Saw the dread strife begun,
Didst teach adoring faith to cry,

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By thy meek spirit, Thou, of all

That e'er have mourn'd the chief

Thou Saviour! if the stroke must fall,

Hallow this grief!

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WHERE IS THE SEA?

SONG OF THE GREEK ISLANDER IN EXILE.

[A Greek Islander, being taken to the Vale of Tempe, and called upon to admire its beauty, only replied--" The sea-where is it?"]

WHERE is the sea?-I languish here

Where is my own blue sea?
With all its barks in fleet career,
And flags, and breezes free.

I miss that voice of waves which first

Awoke my childhood's glee ;

The measured chime—the thundering burst-
Where is my own blue sea?

Oh! rich your myrtle's breath may rise,

Soft, soft

be;

your winds may
Yet my sick heart within me dies-
Where is my own blue sea?

I hear the shepherd's mountain flute-
I hear the whispering tree ;—
The echoes of my soul are mute:
-Where is my own blue sea?

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