Friends! do you see in yon sunset sky,That cloud of crimson bright?Soon will its gorgeous colors dieIn coming dim twilight;E’en now it fadeth ray by ray–Like it I too shall pass away! Look on yon fragile summer flowerYielding its sweet perfume;Soon shall it have lived out its hour,Its beauty and its bloom:Trampled, ’twill perish in […]

“Beloved! thou’rt gazing with thoughtful lookOn those flowers of brilliant hue,Blushing in spring tide freshness and bloom,Glittering with diamond dew:What dost thou read in each chalice fair,And what does each blossom say?Do they not tell thee, my peerless one,Thou’rt lovelier far than they?” “Not so–not so, but they whisper lowThat quickly will fade their bloom;Soon […]

“Oh! Autumn winds, what means this plaintive wailingAround the quiet homestead where we dwell?Whence come ye, say, and what the story mournfulThat your weird voices ever seek to tell–Whispering or clamoring, beneath the casements,Rising in shriek or dying off in moan,But ever breathing, menace, fear, or anguishIn every thrilling and unearthly tone?” “We come from […]

“The heart knoweth its own bitterness” The heart hath its moments of hopeless gloom,As rayless as is the dark night of the tomb;When the past has no spell, the future no ray,To chase the sad cloud from the spirit away;When earth, though in all her rich beauty arrayed,Hath a gloom o’er her flowers–o’er her skies […]

THE NATIVITY, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONVENT OF VILLA MARIA (MONKLANDS.) Oh, Villa Maria, thrice favored spot,Unclouded sunshine is still thy lotSince first, ‘neath thy mortal old,The spouses of Christ–working out God’s will,Meekly entered, their mission high to fill‘Mid the “little ones” of His fold. But grief’s dark hour, that to all must come,At length is […]

Fair as a wreath of fresh spring flowers, a band of maidens layOn the velvet sward–enjoying the golden summer day;And many a ringing silv’ry laugh on the calm air clearly fell,With fancies sweet, which their rosy lips, half unwilling, seemed to tell. They spoke, as maidens often speak, of that ideal oneBy whom the wealth […]

Hush! speak in accents soft and low,And treat with careful stealthThro’ that rich curtained room which tellsOf luxury and wealth;Men of high science and of skillStand there with saddened brow,Exchanging some low whispered words–What can their art do now? Follow their gaze to yonder couchWhere moans in fitful painThe mistress of this splendid home,With aching […]

Other harvests there are than those that lieGlowing and ripe ‘neath an autumn sky,Awaiting the sickle keen,Harvests more precious than golden grain,Waving o’er hillside, valley or plain,Than fruits ‘mid their leafy screen. Not alone for the preacher, man of God,Do those harvests vast enrich the sod,For all may the sickle wield;The first in proud ambition’s […]

Faded and pale their beauty, vanished their early bloom,Their folded leaves emit alone a sweet though faint perfume,But, oh! than brightest bud or flower to me are they more dear,They come from that rose-haunted land, the bright Vale of Cashmere. Cashmere! a spell is in that name! what dreams its sound awakesOf roses sweet as […]

The earth was flooded in the amber hazeThat renders so lovely our autumn days,The dying leaves softly fluttered down,Bright crimson and orange and golden brown,And the hush of autumn, solemn and still,Brooded o’er valley, plain and hill. Yet still from that scene with rare beauty rifeAnd the touching sweetness of fading life,From glowing foliage and […]

‘Twas a wild and stormy sunset, changing tints of lurid redFlooded mountain top and valley and the low clouds overhead;And the rays streamed through the windows of a building stately, high,Whose wealthy, high-born master had lain him down to die. Many friends were thronging round him, breathing aching, heavy sighs–Men with pale and awe-struck faces, […]

Silence now reigns in the corridors wide,The stately rooms of that mansion of pride;The music is hushed, the revellers gone,The glitt’ring ball-room deserted and lone,–Silence and gloom, like a clinging pall,O’ershadow the house–’tis after the ball. Yet a light still gleams in a distant room,Where sits a girl in her “first season’s bloom;”Look at her […]

She stands in front of her mirrorWith bright and joyous air,Smoothes out with a skilful handHer waves of golden hair;But the tell tale roses on her cheek,So changing yet so bright,And downcast, earnest eye betrayNew thoughts are hers to-night. Then say what is the fairy spell,Around her beauty thrown,Lending a new and softer charmTo every […]

Hush, mourning mother, wan and pale!No sobs–no grieving now:No burning tears must thou let fallUpon that cold still brow;No look of anguish cast above,Nor smite thine aching breast,But clasp thy hands and thank thy God–Thy darling is at rest. Close down those dark-fringed, snowy lidsOver the violet eyes,Whose liquid light was once as clearAs that […]

What does time whisper, youth gay and light,While thinning thy locks, silken and bright,While paling thy soft cheek’s roseate dye,Dimming the light of thy flashing eye,Stealing thy bloom and freshness away–Is he not hinting at death–decay? Man, in the wane of thy stately prime,Hear’st thou the silent warnings of Time?Look at thy brow ploughed by […]

How oft I’ve longed to gaze on thee,Thou proud and mighty deep!Thy vast horizon, boundless, free,Thy coast so rude and steep;And now entranced I breathless stand,Where earth and ocean meet,Whilst billows wash the golden sand,And break around my feet. Lovely thou art when dawn’s red lightSheds o’er thee its soft hue,Showing fair ships, a gallant […]

To all my fond rhapsodies, Charley,You have wearily listened, I fear;As yet not an answer you’ve givenSave a shrug, or an ill-concealed sneer;Pray, why, when I talk of my marriage,Do you watch me with sorrowing eye?‘Tis you, hapless bachelor, Charley,That are to be pitied– not I! You mockingly ask me to tell you,Since to bondage […]

Yes, leave my side to flirt with Maude,To gaze into her eyes,To whisper in her ear sweet words,And low impassioned sighs;And though she give you glance for glance,And smile and scheme and plot,You cannot raise a jealous thought,I know you love her not. Now turn to laughing Lulu,That Witty, gay coquette,With her teeth of shining […]

Amid the flowers of a garden gladeA lovely rose tree smiled,And the sunbeams shone, the zephyrs played,‘Round the gardens favorite child;And the diamond dew-drops glistening fellOn each rose’s silken vest,Whilst light winged bee and butterfly gayOn the soft leaves loved to rest. But one morn while a sunbeam brightLit up its delicate bloom,And a zephyr […]

The lights yet gleamed on the holy shrine, the incense hung around,But the rites were o’er, the silent church re-echoed to no sound;Yet kneeling there on the altar steps, absorbed in ardent prayer,Is a girl, as seraph meek and pure–as seraph heav’nly fair. The blue eyes, veiled by the lashes long that rest on that […]