OH! BANQUET NOT. Oh! banquet not in these shining bowers, There while the myrtle's withering boughs, We'll brim the bowl to broken vows, Its branches o'er the dreary spot, We'll drink to those neglected graves, Moore. INFLUENCE OF HOPE ON THE HUMAN MIND. At summer eve, when heaven's aërial bow The promised joys of life's unmeasured way; More pleasing seems than all the past hath been! From dark oblivion, glows divinely there. What potent spirit guides the raptured eye To pierce the shades of dim futurity? Ah! no; she darkly sees the fate of man- Or, if she hold an image to the view, 'Tis nature pictured too severely true. With thee, sweet hope, resides the heavenly light When man and nature mourned their first decay; Shot from malignant stars to earth below; Thus while Elijah's burning wheels prepare From Carmel's height to sweep the fields of air, The prophet's mantle, ere his flight began, Dropt on the world-a sacred gift to man. Auspicious Hope! in thy sweet garden grow the furrowed lines of anxious thought away! Campbell. THE HEAVENLY REST. There is an hour of peaceful rest, To mourning wanderers given; There is a soft, a downy bed, 'Tis fair as breath of even; A couch for weary mortals spread, Where they may rest the aching head, There is a home for weary souls, By sin and sorrow driven; When tost on life's tempestuous shoals, There faith lifts up the tearful eye, And all serene in heaven! There fragrant flowers immortal bloom, There rays divine disperse the gloom : Beyond the confines of the tomb, Appears the dawn of heaven! THE WORLD PASSES AWAY. This world is all a fleeting show, For man's illusion given; Anon. |