Then deep in tangle-woods to fight the fierce sea

unicorn,

And send him foil'd and bellowing back, for all his ivory horn;

To leave the subtle sworder-fish of bony blade forlorn;

And for the ghastly-grinning shark to laugh his jaws to scorn;

To leap down on the kraken's back, where 'mid Norwegian isles

He lies, a lubber anchorage for sudden shallow'd

miles;

'Till snorting, like an under-sea volcano, off he

rolls;

Meanwhile to swing, a-buffeting the far astonish'd shoals

Of his back-browsing ocean-calves; or, haply in

a cove,

Shell-strown, and consecrate of old to some Undiné's love,

To find the long-hair'd mermaidens; or, hard by icy lands,

To wrestle with the Sea-serpent, upon cerulean

sands.

O broad-arm'd Fisher of the deep, whose sports can equal thine ?

The Dolphin weighs a thousand tons, that tugs thy cable line;

And night by night, 'tis thy delight, thy glory day

by day,

Through sable sea and breaker white, the giant game to play

But shamer of our little sports! forgive the name

I

gave

A fisher's joy is to destroy-thine office is to save.

O lodger in the sea-kings' halls, couldst thou but

understand

Whose be the white bones by thy side, or who that dripping band,

Slow swaying in the heaving wave, that round about thee bend,

With sounds like breakers in a dream blessing their ancient friend

Oh, couldst thou know what heroes glide with larger steps round thee,

Thine iron side would swell with pride; thou'dst leap within the sea.

Give honour to their memories who left the pleasant strand,

To shed their blood so freely for the love of Fatherland,

Who left their chance of quiet age and grassy

churchyard grave,

So freely, for a restless bed amid the tossing waveOh, though our anchor may not be all I have

fondly sung,

Honour him for their memory, whose bones he goes among!

SAMUEL FERGUSON.

F

TO DAFFODILS.

AIR daffodils, we weep to see

You haste away so soon;

As yet the early rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon:
Stay, stay,

K

Until the hastening day
Has run

But to the even-song;

And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.

We have short time to stay, as you;
We have as short a spring;

As quick a growth to meet decay

As

As

you, or any thing:

We die,

Like to the summer's rain,

Or as the pearls of morning dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

HERRICK.

H

AN ANGEL IN THE HOUSE.

OW sweet it were, if without feeble fright,

Or dying of the dreadful beauteous sight,
An angel came to us, and we could bear
To see him issue from the silent air

At evening in our room, and bend on ours
His divine eyes, and bring us from his bowers
News of dear friends and children who have never
Been dead indeed, as we shall know for ever.

Alas! we think not what we daily see
About our hearths,―angels, that are to be,
Or may be if they will, and we prepare
Their souls and ours to meet in happy air,—
A child, a friend, a wife whose soft heart sings
In unison with ours, breeding its future wings.
LEIGH HUNT.

B

THE HUMBLE-BEE.

URLY dozing humble-bee!

Where thou art is clime for me.
Let them sail for Porto Rique,
Far off heats through seas to seek,
I will follow thee alone,
Thou animated torrid-zone!
Zig-zag steerer, desert-cheerer,
Let me chase thy waving lines,
Keep me nearer, me thy hearer,
Singing over shrubs and vines.

Insect-lover of the sun,
Joy of thy dominion !

Sailor of the atmosphere,

Swimmer through the waves of air,

Voyager of light and noon,

Epicurean of June,

Wait, I prithee, till I come

Within ear-shot of thy hum;
All without is martyrdom.

When the south wind, in May days,

With a net of shining haze

Silvers the horizon wall,

And, with softness touching all,

Tints the human countenance

With a colour of romance,
And infusing subtle heats,
Turns the sod to violets,
Thou in sunny solitudes,
Rover of the underwoods,
The green silence dost displace,
With thy mellow breezy bass.