LOVE. But when its open leaves have found A home in the free air, Pluck them, and there remains a wound The blight of hope and happiness Is felt when fond ones part, And the bitter tear that follows is The life-blood of the heart. When the flame of love is kindled first, Come on the memory, they pass o'er But when that flame has blazed into And smiled in scorn upon the dew That fell in its first warm hour, 145 "T is the flame that curls round the martyr's head, Whose task is to destroy ! "T is the lamp on the altars of the dead, Whose light is not of joy! Then crush, even in their hour of birth, The infant buds of Love, And tread his growing fire to earth, 146 HIGHLAND BALLAD. Ere 't is dark in clouds above; HIGHLAND BALLAD. THE MINSTREL. BY J. W. MILLER. FAIR lot befall the minstrel ! Bright sky and shadeless earth, To breathe the tints of beauty, Let spring for him the fountains, For he is born of them, To weave for him the song-spell, HIGHLAND BALLAD. Trace ye his boundless empire With pencils of the red fire— He walks a monarch there! Its clouds his temple dome, And when the day is glowing That he may know what dreams float And fair befall the minstrel In princely halls of wassail Fill him the cup of cheer, While o'er the conqueror's festal 147 148 THE MERMAID'S SONG. His harp is linging clear ; So through life's deserts dreary, THE MERMAID'S SONG. BY H. F. GOULD. COME, mariner, down in the deep with me, For I have a bed of coral for thee; On a pillow of pearls thine eye shall sleep, And nothing disturb thee there; The fishes their silent vigils shall keepThere shall be no grass thy grave to sweep But the silk of the Mermaid's hair. THE SHOWER. And she who is waiting with cheek so pale, As the tempest and ocean roar; And weeps when she hears the menacing gale, Come whitening up to the shore. She has not long to linger for thee ;— Her sorrows shall soon be o'er ; 149 For, the cord shall be broke and the prisoner free, THE SHOWER. BY J. W. MILLER. THE pleasant rain!-the pleasant rain! On twangling leaf and dimpling pool,- The withering grass, and fading flowers, |