GENIUS WAKING. O, what rare and heavenly brightness Wheeling through the shadowy ocean, With serene and placid motion, From that cloudless region stooping, Up again undaunted soaring, Thou didst pierce the cloud, When the warring winds were roaring Where is now that restless longing After higher things? Come they not, like visions, thronging On their airy wings? Why should not their glow enchant thee Surely danger cannot daunt thee From a heaven like this. But thou slumberest; faint and quivering Hangs thy ruffled wing; 1 Like a dove in winter shivering, Or a feebler thing. 89 90 GENIUS WAKING. Where is now thy might and motion, Thy imperial flight? Where is now thy heart's devotion? Hark! his rustling plumage gathers Close, as when the storm-bird weathers Ocean's hurrying tide. Now his nodding beak is steady- And his aim-how high! Now he curves his neck, and proudly Hark! his wings-they thunder loudly, Glorious bird, thy dream has left thee- Of the glory given. With a bold, a fearless pinion, On thy starry road, None, to fame's supreme dominion, BY LOUISA P. SMITH. THEY were gathered for a bridal! From their fair and fairy sisters They were borne, without a sigh, For one remembered evening To blossom and to die. They were gathered for a bridal! But purer were the roses Than the heart that lay beneath; They were gathered for a bridal! Where a thousand torches glistened, When the holy words were spoken, And the false and faithless listened And answered to the vow Which another heart had taken 92 THE CORAL INSECT. Yet he was present then- They were gathered for a bridal! And not like her's who wore them; TOIL on! toil on! ye ephemeral train, Who build in the tossing and treacherous main; Ye bind the deep with your secret zone, Fresh wreaths from the coral pavement spring, 93 But why do ye plant 'neath the billows dark With mouldering bones the deeps are white, Ye build-ye build—but ye enter not in, Like the tribes whom the desert devoured in their sin; From the land of promise ye fade and die, Ere its verdure gleams forth on your weary eye;— |