Woodland Echoes (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 Excerpt: ...fills her soul-lit eye; Love, unalloy'd, around her young heart weaves A spell of sacredness and untold joy. Alas that such dear dreams of happiness--Sublime, poetic tenants of the soul--Should thus precede the rendings of distress, No lov'd one near its anguish to condole. Scarce had the god of day sunk to his rest, And drawn his crimson curtain o'er the sky, When om'nous sounds swept o'er the ocean's breast, Mingling with the sea-birds' clamorous cry; And on the distant horizon appeared Huge sombre clouds with lurid brightness crown'd, A BALLAD. 93 Which rose anon, like spectres gaunt and weird, Till o'er the scene a horrid darkness frown'd. The mirthful smile forsook the mariner's eye, And conscious dread lurk'd in the bravest heart, As lightnings, vivid, gleam'd athwart the sky, And awful thunders back'd each nimble dart. Then, ever and anon, the murky clouds Discharged their torrents to the hissing seas, Until again was closed their humid shrouds, And Boreas sank into a whispering breeze. Again the tempest broke the solemn lull, And bore anew the ligtning's torrid breath, Whose scathing fires swept o'er the vessel's hull, With tongues which bore the emphasis of death. A form was seen upon the sea-wash'd prow--With raven tresses sporting in the breeze, Falling, in contrast, o'er her marble brow--She stood, like sdme fair goddess of the seas. With upturn'd gaze propitious aid she sought, And pity crav'd from the Omnific Eye: Thy prayer, sweet Helen, angel ears have caught, Through stormless realms they bear it to the sky. Down into depths, as darksome as the grave, A moment, motionless, the vessel lay, Then high upon the summit of a wave, Envelop'd in a mist of hoary spray. Now swift, as 'twere some chaos-haunting sprite, That loves the midnight solitu...