THOUGHTS OF A STUDENT.

BY J. LAWRENCE, JUN.

MANY a sad, sweet thought have I,
Many a passing, sunny gleam,
Many a bright tear in mine eye,

Many a wild and wandering dream,
Stolen from hours I should have tied
To musty volumes by my side,
Given to hours that sweetly wooed
My heart from its study's solitude.

Oft when the south wind's dancing free
Over the earth and in the sky,

And the flowers peep softly out to see

The frolic Spring as she wantons by,

When the breeze and beam like thieves come in,

To steal me away, I deem it sin

To slight their voice, and away I'm straying

Over the hills and vales a Maying.

THOUGHTS OF A STUDENT.

Then can I hear the earth rejoice,
Happier than man may ever be,
Every fountain hath then a voice
That sings of its glad festivity;
For it hath burst the chains, that bound
Its currents dead in the frozen ground,
And flashing away in the sun has gone,
Singing, and singing, and singing on.

145

146

THOUGHTS OF A STUDENT.

Many a big, proud tear have I,

When from my sweet and roaming track,
From the green earth and misty sky,
And spring and love I hurry back;
Then what a dismal, dreary gloom
Settles upon my loathed room,
Darker to every thought and sense

Than if they had never travelled thence.

148

LOVE AND FAME.

Like the Chaldean sage,

Fame's worshippers adore,

The brilliant orbs that scatter light

O'er heaven's azure floor;

But in their very hearts enshrined

The votaries of Love

Keep e'er the holy flame, which once
Illumed the courts above.

Give me the boon of Love!

Renown is but a breath,
Whose loudest echo ever floats
From out the halls of death.
A loving eye beguiles me more

Than Fame's emblazoned seal,
And one sweet tone of tenderness
Than Triumph's wildest peal.

Give me the boon of Love!

The path of Fame is drear,

And Glory's arch doth ever span
A hill-side cold and sere.

One wild flower from the path of Love,

All lowly though it lie,

Is dearer than the wreath that waves

To stern Ambition's eye.