TO THE WITCH HAZEL. Afar, on yonder faint blue mound The jarring world confessed the shock. On high, beside his sire to dwell; 195 TO THE WITCH HAZEL. MYSTERIOUS plant! whose golden tresses wave Like the pale corpse-light o'er the recent grave! 196 ILLUSTRATION OF A PICTURE Unchanged and bright, when all is dark beside ; Our shield from wild temptations, and our guide To treasures for the just laid up in heaven. ILLUSTRATION OF A PICTURE, OF SUMMER TWILIGHT PAINTED BY ALLSTON. BY I. M'CLELLAN, JR. THE tender Twilight with a crimson cheek Leans on the breast of Eve. The wayward Wind Hath folded her fleet pinions, and gone down To slumber by the darkened woods-the herds Have left their pastures, where the sward grows green And lofty by the river's sedgy brink, And slow are winding home. Hark, from afar то With solemn footsteps, into Nature's vast Of peace, in some green paradise like this. 197 The brazen trumpet, and the loud war-drum Ne'er startled these green woods :-the raging sword Hath never gathered its red harvest here! The peaceful Summer day hath never closed Around this quiet spot, and caught the gleam Of War's rude pomp:-the humble dweller here Hath never left his sickle in the field, To slay his fellow with unholy hand, The maddening voice of battle, the wild groan, And the shrill shriek of mortal agony, Have never broke its sabbath solitude. TO BY O. W. B. PEABODY. Too lovely and too early lost! But doubly cold and cheerless now, Since every beacon-light is quenched I saw thee first, when hope arose Of early dawning spring. Who then could dream, that health and joy So bright with varying lustre once, That brow! how proudly o'er it then, When wit, or eloquence or mirth Came burning from the tongue; Or when upon that glowing cheek The kindling smile was spread, Or tears, to thine own woes denied, For others' griefs were shed. Thy mind! it ever was the home Thy pure example taught; Kindness, and peace and virtue there, In mingled radiance shone. One evening, when the autumn dew Upon the hills was shed, And Hesperus far down the west то His starry host had led, Thou saidst, how sadly and how oft To that prophetic eye, Visions of darkness and decline, It was a voice from other worlds, How sadly on my spirit then, That fatal warning fell! But oh! the dark reality Another voice may tell; The quick decline-the parting sigh The slowly moving bier The lifted sod--the sculptured stone The unavailing tear! The amaranth flowers that bloom in heaven, Entwine thy temples now; The crown that shines immortally, Is beaming on thy brow; The seraphs round the burning throne Have borne thee to thy rest, 199 |