Than to administer to you, his child; Of holiness and goodness like his own- TO A BUTTERFLY RESTING ON A SKULL. CREATURE of air and light, Emblem of that which cannot die, Wilt thou not speed thy flight, To chase the south wind through the sunny sky? What lures thee thus to stay "With silence and decay, Fix'd on the wreck of dull mortality? The thoughts, once chamber'd there, Have gather'd up their treasures, and are gone: They that have burst their prison-house are flown? If thou wouldst trace their way; Earth has no voice to make the secret known. Who seeks the vanish'd bird By the forsaken nest and broken shell? Far hence he sings unheard, Yet free and joyous, in the woods to dwell. Take the bright wings of morn ; Thy hope calls heavenward from yon ruin'd cell. A THOUGHT ON DEATH. WHEN life, as opening buds, is sweet, When scarce is seized some borrow'd prize, How awful then it is to die! When one by one those ties are torn, Ah! then how easy 't is to die! When trembling limbs refuse their weight, 'Tis nature's precious boon to die! When faith is strong, and conscience clear, And vision'd glories half appear, 'Tis joy, 't is triumph then to die! THE WIDOW OF NAIN. O MINGLE With the widow's tears She bends beneath the weight of years; Her son-her only son-is gone! The pall upon his corse is spread, She follows on, without a tear, The Savior is that pitying one; 86 Young man, arise!"-a living son THE AUTUMN EVENING. BEHOLD the western evening light! The winds breathe low, the withering leaf So gently flows the parting breath, How beautiful on all the hills How mildly on the wandering cloud 'Tis like the memory left behind When loved ones breathe their last. And now, above the dews of night, But soon the morning's happier light And eyelids that are seal'd in death |