THE RETURN. The cottage in the peaceful vale, Without the porch, one summer noon, The Hermit-dweller see! In musing silence bending down, The book upon his knee. Who stands between thee and the sun?- The mind a razed, defeatured scroll; And darkness, Eva, in thy soul! Unto the distant nest; O'er hill and waste, from land to land, And there, behold the Wanderer stand LIGHT AND DARKNESS. When earth is fair, and winds are still. So silent they-the place so lone- And his to watch, as in the past It is not what the leech can cure- A calm so deep, it must endure So deep, thou scarce canst call it sadness; A summer night, whose shadow falls Yet, through the gloom, she seem'd to feel Close by his side she loved to steal, O sweet the jasmine's buds of snow, To shoreless deeps away; But heavenward from the faithful heart A sweeter incense stole ; The onward waves their source desert, But Soul returns to Soul! Day closed-A Child had seen the light; She rested in undreaming night. Spring rose-The lady's grave was green; A gentle Boy, with thoughtful mien. Years fled :--He wore a manly face, And then-he died! Behold, before ye, WITHIN AND WITHOUT. WITHOUT. THE winds are bitter; the skies are wild; From the roof comes plunging the drowning rain: Without,-in tatters, the world's poor child Sobbeth abroad her grief, her pain! No one heareth her, no one heedeth her : But Hunger, her friend, with his bony hand Grasps her throat, whispering huskily "What dost Thou in a Christian land?" |