THINK of thee when the bright sunlight shimmers
Across the sea;

When the clear fountain in the moonbeam glimmers,
I think of thee.

I see thee, if far up the pathway yonder

The dust be stirred;

If faint steps o'er the little bridge to wander
At night be heard.

224

THE ORIENTAL LOVE-LETTER.

I hear thee when the tossing waves' low rumbling
Creeps up the hill;

I go to the lone wood and listen, trembling,
When all is still.

I am with thee, wherever thou art roaming,—

And thou art near!

The sun goes down, and soon the stars are coming:
Would thou wert here!

IS eve, and from her lattice high
An Eastern maid is bending,
Where music breathes to waft a sigh

On the soft breeze ascending:

His voice is on the trembling string!

But she may not greet her lover;

Her timid hand dare only fling

A silent token over.

That token, though Love's magic powers

To do his hests have bound it,

Is but a knot of fragrant flowers

With a silver cord around it.

II.

Ah, Love! thou play'st a wizard's part,

To fling an ample dower

THE ORIENTAL LOVE-LETTER.

Of meanings, whispering to the heart.
Even through the simplest flower!
On granite rock no pen of steel

More deeply could indent them ;
No winged words more truths reveal,

Than those thy spells have lent them : The granite rock to time will yield,

The words be lost when spoken;

But every blossom in the field

Renews thy gentle token.

III.

Those loving eyes, when years are gone,

Though dimmed by time and sorrow, May turn life's long, rough path upon, Dreams of the past to borrow;

Oft as some garden, rich in all

This summer eve discloses,

Shall Love's young blessed hours recall,
Twined with its budding roses.

So twined and bound, the hand of Time
Shall cast no darkness o'er them;

For each bright year's returning prime
Is mighty to restore them.

ΑΝΟΝ.

225

226

THE DISCOVERY.

THE DISCOVERY.

ER hands are o'er the paper folded ;
She looks not in her mother's eye;

Her lip into a smile is moulded;

Her cheek the conscious blushes dye:

Yet through that pure and changing cheek

Love softly pleads her best defence,
Whose scarce-concealed emotions speak

The soul of child-like innocence !

'Tis not a parent's stern command

Can check the tide of feeling's flow;
Oh, 'tis not for a mother's hand

To loose the fount of human woe:
The breast may from its hopes be torn,—
The heart be crushed, but will not break ;
The hidden thought unheard will mourn,-
The fervent soul will not forsake.

Oh, thou who through her infant years
Hath watched her with a mother's care,

Forbear to raise the bitter tears

That swell the tide of young despair.

What though the one sweet dream of youth
Hath thus her tender soul beguiled;
Turn to thine own remembered youth,
And ah! forgive thy gentle child!

E. L. MONTAGU.