uth!
Oh! whence the wind, the rain, the drouth;
The dews of eve; the mists of morn;
The bloom of rose; the thistle's thorn;
Whence light of love; whence dark of scorn;
Whence joy; whence grief; Death, born of wrong--
Ah! whence is _life_ ten-thousand passions throng?--
_Thence_ is thy song!

Thou singest the rage of jealous Moor,
The passionate love of Juliet;
Thy villainous art can weave a net
With shreds of song, that never yet
Hath lover escaped, however noble and pure.
Ophelia's broken heart is thine,
And Desdemona's, true and good;
Thou paintest the damn-ed spot of blood
That will not out in stain or line!
Oh Lear! Oh Fool! Oh Witch Macbeth!
And wondrous Hamlet in a breath!
Who knows thy heart? thy song? thy words?
Thou Shakespeare in the realm of birds!

A RONDEL

October, queen of autumn days,
With green and crimson leaves is crowned;
Her russet cheeks are sun-embrowned,
Her hair all golden in the haze:

She sits upon a throne ablaze,
Her limbs with royal robes are gowned--
October, queen of autumn days,
With green and crimson leaves encrowned

But now o'erwhelmed in sad amaze
She hears a far-off rising sound;
The hills and booming seas resound;
The plaintive wind her requiem plays--
October, queen of autumn days.

THE PLAY IS O'ER

The play is o'er! Great Wolsey's dead--
That scarlet power once England's dread;
And lustful Henry's brutal sin
Hath slain the noble Catharine,--
More stainless wife was never wed.

Anne Boleyn shares the royal bed
And wears upon her graceless head
The good queen's crown without chagrin--
The play is o'er!

A few brief months have swiftly sped,
The faithless consort's blood is shed.
What means the mighty noise within?
The trumpet's blare, the cymbal's din?
Jane Seymour's to the altar led,--
The play is o'er!

A RONDEAU

His heart was pure: he loved the child
That dwelt among untrodden ways
And dared to lift his voice in praise
Of humblest wight in highlands wild.

Poor, wretched man by sin defiled,
He sang in sympathetic lays--
His heart was pure.

The blithe cuckoo and daisy mild,
The daffodils, like elfin fays,
The m