To my heart that would be bleaching
To thy whiteness, Cliff of Wight.

[Page 394.]

Hope

'T is borne on the zephyr at eventide's hour;
It falls on the heart like the dew on the flower,--
An infinite essence from tropic to pole,
The promise, the home, and the heaven of Soul. [5]

Hope happifies life, at the altar or bower,
And loosens the fetters of pride and of power;
It comes through our tears, as the soft summer rain,
To beautify, bless, and make joyful again.

The harp of the minstrel, the treasure of time; [10]
A rainbow of rapture, o'erarching, divine;
The God-given mandate that speaks from above,--
No place for earth's idols, but hope thou, and love.

Rondelet

"The flowers of June
The gates of memory unbar:
The flowers of June
Such old-time harmonies _re_tune,
I fain would keep the gates ajar,--
So full of sweet enchantment are [20]
The flowers of June."
JAMES T. WHITE

[Page 395.]

To Mr. James T. White

Who loves not June [2]
Is out of tune
With love and God;
The rose his rival reigns, [5]
The stars reject his pains,
His home the clod!

And yet I trow,
When sweet _rondeau_
Doth play a part, [10]
The curtain drops on June;
Veiled is the modest moon--
Hushed is the heart.

Autumn

Written in childhood, in a maple grove [15]

Quickly earth's jewels disappear;
The turf, whereon I tread,
Ere autumn blanch another year,
May rest above my head.

Touched by the finger of decay [20]
Is every earthly love;
For joy, to shun my weary way,
Is registered above.

The languid brooklets yield their sighs,
A requiem o'er the tomb [25]
Of sunny days and cloudless skies,
Enhancing autumn's gloom.

[Page 396.]

The wild winds mutter, howl, and moan, [1]
To scare my woodland walk,
And frightened fancy flees, to roam
Where ghosts and goblins stalk.

The cricket's sharp, discordant scream [5]
Fills mortal sense with dread;
More sorrowful it scarce could seem;
It voices beauty fled.

Yet here, upon this faded sod,--
O happy hours and fleet,-- [10]
When songsters' matin hymns to God
Are poured in strains so sweet,

My heart unbidden joins rehearse;
I hope it's better mad