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And I!-my heart is full of joy,

And gratitude is there,

That He, who might my life destroy,
Has yet vouchsafed to spare.

The friends I once condemned, are now

Affectionate and true :

I wept a pledged one's broken vow—
But he proves faithful too.

And now there is a happiness

In everything I see,

Which bids my soul rise up and bless

The God who blesses me.

MOONLIGHT ON THE HUDSON.

BY C. F. HOFFMAN.

[Written at West Point.]

I'm not romantic, but, upon my word,

There are some moments when one can't help feeling As if his heart's chords were so strongly stirred By things around him, that 'tis vain concealing

A little music in his soul still lingers

Whene'er its keys are touched by Nature's fingers :

And even here, upon this settee lying,

With many a sleepy traveller near me snoozing, Thoughts warm and wild are through my bosom flying, Like founts when first into the sunshine oozing: For who can look on mountain, sky, and river, Like these, and then be cold and calm as ever?

Bright Dian, who, Camilla like, dost skim yon
Azure fields-Thou who, once earthward bending,
Didst loose thy virgin zone to young Endymion
On dewy Latmos to his arms descending-
Thou whom the world of old on every shore
Type of thy sex, Triformis, did adore :

232

MOONLIGHT ON THE HUDSON.

Tell me where'er thy silver barque be steering,

By bright Italian or soft Persian lands, Or o'er those island-studded seas careering,

Whose pearl-charged waves dissolve on coral strandsTell if thou visitest, thou heavenly rover,

A lovelier spot than this the wide world over?

Doth Achelous or Araxes flowing

Twin-born from Pindus, but ne'er meeting brothersDoth Tagus o'er his golden pavement glowing,

Or cradle-freighted Ganges, the reproach of mothers, The storied Rhine, or far-famed Guadalquiver, Match they in beauty my own glorious river?

What though no turret gray nor ivied column

Along these cliffs their sombre ruins rear?
What though no frowning tower nor temple solemn
Of despots tell and superstition here—

What though that mouldering fort's fast-crumbling walls
Did ne'er enclose a baron's bannered halls-

Its sinking arches once gave back as proud
An echo to the war-blown clarion's peal,
As gallant hearts its battlements did crowd
As ever beat beneath a vest of steel
When herald's trump on knighthood's haughtiest day
Called forth chivalric host to battle fray :

MOONLIGHT ON THE HUDSON.

233

For here amid these woods did He keep court,

Before whose mighty soul the common crowd

Of heroes, who alone for fame have fought,

Are like the Patriarch's sheaves to Heaven's chosen bowed

He who his country's eagle taught to soar,

And fired those stars which shine o'er every shore.

And sights and sounds at which the world have wondered,
Within these wild ravines have had their birth;

Young Freedom's cannon from these glens have thundered,
And sent their startling echoes o'er the earth;
And not a verdant glade nor mountain hoary
But treasures up within the glorious story.

And yet not rich in high-souled memories only,

Is every moon-touched headland round me gleaming, Each cavernous glen and leafy valley lonely,

And silver torrent o'er the bald rock streaming :
But such soft fancies here may breathe around,
As make Vaucluse and Clarens hallowed ground.

Where, tell me where, pale watcher of the night-
Thou that to love so oft hast lent its soul,
Since the lorn Lesbian languished 'neath thy light
Or fiery Romeo to his Juliet stole

Where dost thou find a fitter place on earth

To nurse young love in hearts like theirs to birth?

234

MOONLIGHT ON THE HUDSON.

Even as I gaze upon my memory's track,
Bright as that coil of light along the deep,
A scene of early youth comes dream-like back,
Where two are gazing from yon tide-swept steep:
A sanguine strippling, just toward manhood flushing ;
A girl scarce yet in ripened beauty blushing.

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The hour is his! and while his hopes are soaring
Doubts he that lady will become his bride?

Can she resist that gush of wild adoring

Fresh from a heart full volumed as the tide? Tremulous yet various is that glorious daughter Of loveliness, as is the star-paved water.

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