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BREAK, break, break,

On thy cold gray stones, O sea! And I would that my tongue could utter The thoughts that arise in me.

O well for the fisherman's boy

That he shouts with his sister at play! O well for the sailor lad

That he sings in his boat on the bay!

And the stately ships go on

To the haven under the hill:

But O for the touch of a vanished hand, And the sound of a voice that is still!

Break, break, break,

At the foot of thy crags, O sea!

But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me.

THE PASSAGE.

JOHANN LUDWIG UHLAND. TRANSLATED BY MISS AUSTEN.

MANY a year is in its grave
Since I crossed this restless wave,
And the evening, fair as ever,
Shines on ruin, rock, and river.

Then, in this same boat, beside,
Sat two comrades, old and tried;
One with all a father's truth,
One with all the fire of youth.

One on earth in science wrought,
And his grave in silence sought;

But the younger, brighter form,
Passed in battle and in storm.

So, whene'er I turn mine eye

Back upon the days gone by,

Saddening thoughts of friends come o'er me, Friends who closed their course before me.

Yet what binds us, friend to friend,
But that soul with soul can blend?
Soul-like were those hours of yore-
Let us walk in soul once more!

Take, O boatman, twice thy fee! -
Take, I give it willingly.

For, invisible to thee,

Spirits twain have crossed with me.

HANNAH BINDING SHOES.

LUCY LARCOM.

POOR lone Hannah,

Sitting at the window, binding shoes!
Faded, wrinkled,

Sitting, stitching, in a mournful muse.
Bright-eyed beauty once was she,
When the bloom was on the tree;-

Spring and winter,

Hannah's at the window, binding shoes.

Not a neighbor

Passing, nod or answer will refuse
To her whisper,

"Is there from the fishers any news?"
Oh, her heart's adrift with one
On an endless voyage gone; —
Night and morning,

Hannah's at the window, binding shoes.

Fair young Hannah,

Ben, the sunburnt fisher, gaily woos;
Hale and clever,

For a willing heart and hand he sues.
May-day skies are all aglow,

And the waves are laughing so!
For her wedding

Hannah leaves her window and her shoes.

May is passing;

'Mid the apple-boughs a pigeon coos;
Hannah shudders,

For the mild south-wester mischief brews. -
Round the rocks of Marblehead,
Outward bound a schooner sped;
Silent, lonesome,

Hannah's at the window, binding shoes.

'Tis November:

Now no tear her wasted cheek bedews,
From Newfoundland

Not a sail returning will she lose,

Whispering hoarsely: "Fishermen,
Have you, have you heard of Ben?”
Old with watching,

Hannah's at the window, binding shoes.

Twenty winters

Bleak and drear the ragged shore she views, Twenty seasons!

Never one has brought her any news,

Still her dim eyes silently

Chase the white sails o'er the sea;-
Hopeless, faithful,

Hannah's at the window, binding shoes.

HOPE, FAITH, AND LOVE.

FRIEDRICH SCHILLER.

THERE are three lessons I would write-
Three words, as with a burning pen,
In tracings of eternal light,

Upon the hearts of men.

Have Hope! Though clouds environ round,
And gladness hides her face in scorn,

Put off the shadow from thy brow -
No night but hath its morn.

Have Faith! Where'er thy bark is driven
The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth -
Know this: God rules the hosts of heaven,
The inhabitants of earth.

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