Miscellaneous Pieces.

THE MOSS ROSE.

The garden flowers with dews are wet,— From dappled skies the day is breaking, And their bright hues together met,

The incense airs of morn are seeking;

The butterfly is on the wing,

That lovely, transient, fluttering thing.

And, save the murmur of the bee,
All silent are those garden bowers;
Beneath a jasmine canopy,

A shade is ling'ring on the flowers→ And clust'ring on the hedge-rows there, Red honeysuckles scent the air.

The bright convolvulus uncloses,

With blue eyes to the sunny morn,
And there are met a thousand roses,
That perfect Eden to adorn.

A place for heavenly musings,-free,-
From this world's care and vanity!

The rhododendron's flowers are spreading,
The star-like cistus lends its charm,
And the fair lily, downward bending,
All rival envy to disarm;

Geraniums flaunt their crimson hue,
Beside the lupin's tender blue.

All through the balmy summer night,
A guardian spirit kept the ground,
Before the first faint rays of light,

To shed refreshing dews around;
And it the soft leaves of the rose,
That garden spirit sought repose.

THE MOSS ROSE.

"Oh say, fair queen!" the spirit said,
"What boon wilt thou require of me,
For resting where thy leaves have shed
Round me a perfumed canopy?
Haste!—for the day is breaking now,
And I to other regions go."

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"Then deck me not with colours bright, Some added charm of thee I crave."Swift as the darting rays of light,

The spirit's wings around her wave;— And the soft moss, in tender green, Around her peerless form is seen.

And thus I heard that spirit sing,

As mounting on the zephyr's wing.

She fled the beams of gairish day,

And floated soft in light away,

'Till twilight's close:

"Would that all beauty deck'd would be

In virtue's garb, humility;--

Like thee, sweet rose!"