f my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.

I sat beside the elm-tree,
I watched the long, long, shade,
And as it grew still longer,
I did not feel afraid;
For I listened for a footfall,
I listened for a word,--
But the beating of my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.

He came not,--no, he came not,--
The night came on alone,--
The little stars sat one by one,
Each on his golden throne;
The evening air passed by my cheek,
The leaves above were stirred,--
But the beating of my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.

Fast silent tears were flowing,
When something stood behind,--
A hand was on my shoulder,
I knew its touch was kind:
It drew me nearer--nearer,--
We did not speak one word,
For the beating of our own hearts
Was all the sound we heard.

[Illustration: Full-page Plate]

_THE VENETIAN SERENADE._

When along the light ripple the far serenade
Has accosted the ear of each passionate maid,
She may open the window that looks on the stream,--
She may smile on her pillow and blend it in dream;
Half in words, half in music, it pierces the gloom,
"I am coming--Stali[B]--but you know not for whom!
Stali--not for whom!"

Now the tones become clearer,--you hear more and more
How the water divided returns on the oar,--
Does the prow of the Gondola strike on the stair?
Do the voices and instruments pause and prepare?
Oh! they faint on the ear as the lamp on the view,
"I am passing--Premi--but I stay not for you!
Premi--not for you!"

Then return to your couch, you who stifle a tear,
Then awake not, fair sleeper--believe he is here;
For the young and the loving no sorrow endures,
If to-day be another's,--to-morrow is yours;
May, the next time you listen, your fancy be true,
"I am coming--Sciar--and for you and to you!
Sciar--and to you!"

[Decoration]

[Footnote B: The words here used are the calls of the gondoliers,
indicating the direction they are rowing. "Sciar" is to stop the
boat.]

_FROM LOVE AND NATURE._

The Sun came through the frosty mist
Most like a dead-white moon;
Thy soothing tones I seemed to list,
As voices in a swoon.

Still as an island stood our ship,
The waters gave no sound,
But when I touched thy quivering lip
I felt the world go round.

We seemed the only sentient t