THE DAY IS DONE. Murmuring the names of mighty men, Teach them your children round the hearth, And on the hills of deer: So shall each unforgotten word, When far those loved ones roam, The green woods of their native land MRS. FELICIA HEMANS. The Day is Done. 'HE day is done, and the darkness THE Falls from the wing of Night, As a feather is wafted downward I see the lights of the village Gleam through the rain and the mist; And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me, That my soul cannot resist : A feeling of sadness and longing, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain. Come,read to me some poem, Not from the grand old masters, For, like strains of martial music, Read from some humbler poet, Whose songs gushed from his heart, As showers from the clouds of summer, Or tears from the eyelids start; Who, through long days of labor, Such songs have power to quiet Then read from the treasured volume The poem of thy choice; And lend to the rhyme of the poet The beauty of thy voice. THE SPLENDOR FALLS. And the night shall be filled with music, And as silently steal away. HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. The Splendor Falls. HE splendor falls on castle walls, THE And snowy summits old in story: The long light shakes across the lakes, And the wild cataract leaps in glory. Blow, bugle, blow; set the wild echoes flying; O hark, O hear! how thin and clear, And thinner, clearer, farther going; The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! O love! they die on yon rich sky; They faint on hill, or field, or river: Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow forever and forever. Blow, bugle, blow; set the wild echoes flying; ALFRED TENNYSON, Song of the Stars. WHEN the radiant morn of creation broke, And the world in the smile of God awoke, And the empty realms of darkness and death Were moved through their depths by his mighty breath, 5 And orbs of beauty and spheres of flame, And this was the song the bright ones sang: "Away, away, through the wide, wide sky, "For the source of glory uncovers his face, "Look, look, through our glittering ranks afar, In the infinite azure, star after star, How they brighten and bloom as they swiftly pass ! How the verdure runs o'er each rolling mass ! And the path of the gentle winds is seen, Where the small waves dance, and the young woods lean. "And see, where the brighter day-beams pour, "Away, away! in our blossoming bowers, THE CLOUD. In the seas and fountains that shine with morn, Glide on in your beauty, ye youthful spheres, To the veil of whose brow your lamps are dim! WILLIAM C. BRYANT, I The Cloud. BRING fresh showers for the thirsting flowers, I bear light shade for the leaves when laid In their noonday dreams. From my wings are shaken the dews that waken When rocked to rest on their mother's breast, I wield the flail of the lashing hail, And whiten the green plains under; I sift the snow on the mountains below, While I sleep in the arms of the blast. In a cavern under is fettered the thunder; 7. |