Fireside Lays; Miscellaneous Poems (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PURPLE DAWN. How beautiful the purple dawn That ushers in the early morn ! It lightly steps with heart so gay, To chase the shades of night away; The stately trees all gently shake To bid the feathered songsters wake; Each little flow'ret, steeped in dew, Looks up to greet the morning too. Then, with one loving, long survey, Dawn glideth unperceived away, Lost in the growing light of day. TWILIGHT SONG. Bring hither my harp, let me touch it once more, While the twilight doth deepen around, And the soft winds of summer o'er meadow and moor, Shall sweetly re-echo the sound. I'll sing till the bright stars of evening appear, And the pale moon hath mounted on high, A lay to the loved ones, still cherished and dear, Companions in seasons gone by. Yes, bring me my harp; let my fingers pass o'er Its strings as they used long ago, Though the voices are absent which often of yore Would in tune to its harmony flow. How sweet their remembrance ever remains, In tenderest tones will I sing; Ay, e'en till the breezes of night learn the strains, And waft them afar on their wing. WEARY OF LIFE. Life ! What is Life, that I should wish it o'er? Or what is Death, that I desire it more ? Silence, my soul! nor dare repeat again The wish to lose what thou couldst ne'er regain ! Though pain and weakness oft oppress thee now, And the cross-streams of life may o'er thee flow, Tis not for thee to murmur and repine, To wish thy days the less; life is not thine. Thou couldst not give one fleeting breath away, To lengthen out a fellow-creature's day, Nor yet receive, though thousand hearts would give One pulse of life that thou might'st longer live. Learn to be patient, and be thankful, too, For daily mercies neither small nor few; Since thou art mortal, tho...