Higher, and yet more high! Shake off the cumbering chain which earth would lay On your victorious wings-mount, mount!-Your way Is through eternity! SONNETS, DEVOTIONAL AND MEMORIAL. I. THE SACRED HARP. How shall the harp of poesy regain That old victorious tone of prophet-years, A spell divine o'er guilt's perturbing fears, And all the hovering shadows of the brain? Dark evil wings took flight before the strain, And showers of holy quiet, with its fall, Sank on the soul:-Oh! who may now recall The mighty music's consecrated reign?— Spirit of God! whose glory once o'erhung A throne, the Ark's dread cherubim between, So let thy presence brood, though now unseen, O'er those two powers by whom the harp is strung— Feeling and Thought!-till the rekindled chords Give the long-buried tone back to immortal words! II. TO A FAMILY BIBLE. What household thoughts around thee, as their shrine, Cling reverently!-of anxious looks beguiled, My mother's eyes, upon thy page divine, Each day were bent;-her accents, gravely mild, Breathed out thy lore: whilst I, a dreamy child, To some lone tuft of gleaming spring-flowers wild, III. REPOSE OF A HOLY FAMILY. From an Old Italian Picture. Under a palm tree, by the green old Nile, Regal and still as everlasting things!- O'er the whole world like vernal air shall spread! And bid all earthly Grandeurs cast the crown, Before the suffering and the lowly, down. IV. PICTURE OF THE INFANT CHRIST WITH FLOWERS. All the bright hues from eastern garlands glowing, Round the young Child luxuriantly are spread; Gifts, fairer far than Magian kings, bestowing Roses, deep-fill'd with rich midsummer's red, And hus it was! a diadem of thorn Earth gave to Him who mantled her with flowers, To him who pour'd forth blessings in soft showers O'er all her paths, a cup of bitter scorn! And we repine, for whom that cup He took, O'er blooms that mock'd our hope, o'er idols that forsook ! V. ON A REMEMBERED PICTURE OF CHRIST. An Ecce Homo, by Leonardo da Vinci. I met that image on a mirthful day Of youth; and, sinking with a still'd surprise, Awful, though meek; and now, that from the strings Of my soul's lyre, the tempest's mighty wings Have struck forth tones which then awaken'd lay; Now, that around the deep life of my mind, Affections, deathless as itself, have twined, Oft does the pale bright vision still float by; But more divinely sweet, and speaking now Of One whose pity, throned on that sad brow, Sounded all depths of love, grief, death, humanity! VI. THE CHILDREN WHOM JESUS BLEST. Happy were they, the mothers, in whose sight Hung on your brows and eyelids, meekly bright, The conscious glory of the Saviour's love! And honour'd be all childhood, for the sake Of that high love! Let reverential care Watch to behold the immortal spirit wake, And shield its first bloom from unholy air; Owning, in each young suppliant glance, the sign Of claims upon a heritage divine. VII. MOUNTAIN SANCTUARIES. "He went up to a mountain apart to pray." A child 'midst ancient mountains I have stood, Where the wild falcons make their lordly nest On high. The spirit of the solitude Fell solemnly upon my infant breast, Though then I pray'd not; but deep thoughts have press'd Into my being since it breathed that air, Nor could I now one moment live the guest Of such dread scenes, without the springs of prayer O'erflowing all my soul. No minsters rise Like them in pure communion with the skies, VOL. VII.- 22 Vast, silent, open unto night and day; So might the o'erburden'd Son of man have felt, When, turning where inviolate stillness dwelt, He sought high mountains, there apart to pray. VIII. THE LILIES OF THE FIELD. "Consider the lilies of the field." Flowers! when the Saviour's calm benignant eye Fell on your gentle beauty—when from you That heavenly lesson from all hearts he drew, Eternal, universal, as the sky Then, in the bosom of your purity, A voice He set, as in a temple-shrine, And though too oft its low, celestial sound, IX. THE BIRDS OF THE AIR. "And behold the birds of the air." Ye too, the free and fearless Birds of air, |