I read my destiny. Oh! life can bring
No darker doom--no wo that may inherit
So much of bitterness--no rack to ring
With deeper agony, my fainting spirit.

To dwell, in thought, upon one image still,
Till it becomes a portion of our being,
Hath fix'd its features in the eye, until
It hath become a part of sight--thus seeing,
Even in tree, and rock, and rill, and flower,
A form of borrow'd beauty, and a spell--
A spirit of unspeakable heart--power--
To move the waters in our soul's deep well!

Till every thought, that like a wavelet, breaks
Upon the surface of life's charmed pool,
Circling instinctively, unbidden, takes
Form, hue, direction, from that magic rule!
What is it but the yearning of the soul
Toward one allied to it by heavenly birth?
And seeking to unite, blend, melt the whole
Into one miracle of love on earth!

Such have my feelings been--thy soul to mine
Came robed in radiance of such heavenly hue,
My spirit clasped it as a thing divine;
And while I dreamed they into oneness grew,
I suddenly awaked, to know that vision
Had not appeared to any one but me!
Why did I learn, waked from that dream elysian,
A sister's love was all I shared with thee!

THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION.

BY JAMES K. PAULDING, AUTHOR OF THE "DUTCHMAN'S FIRESIDE," ETC.

There was no inhabitant of all the East more favored by nature and by
fortune than Adakar, son of Benhadad, of the famous city of Damascus,
which Musselmen call the Paradise of the earth. He was young, rich,
and beautiful; and being early left without parents, had run the race
of sensual pleasures by the time his beard was grown. He became sated
with enjoyment, and now passed much of his time in a spacious garden
which belonged to him, through which the little river Barady, which
flows from Mount Hermon, meandered among beds of flowers, and groves
of oranges, pomegranates, and citrons, whose mingled odors perfumed
the surrounding air.

Here he would recline on a sofa in listless apathy, or peevish
discontent, sometimes half dozing, and, at others, inwardly
complaining of the lot of man, which seemed to have ordained that the
possession of that wealth which it is said can purchase all which is
necessary to human enjoyment, should yet be incapable of conferring
happiness. He became the victim of spleen and disappoin