DESERT LILIES. At sunset or at morn? What strange and solemn airs O life, how glad and blest, Thou seem'st in such a waste! O beauty, what a power, To cheer in loneliest hour! O desert rocks, if one small leaf Can make these wastes look fair, What will ye be when these scorched plains, 209 210 SUMMER GLADNESS. When eastern suns shall cease to scorch And these lone valleys shall give forth SUMMER GLADNESS. WHAT a world with all its sorrows! What a scene, would it but stay; When earth's summer pulse is beating And the flowers fling up their greeting, When the streamlet, smiling gladly, Not a voice around speaks sadly, Not a murmur nor a sigh. SUMMER GLADNESS. Sunbeams with their fond caresses, Smooth each rosebud's velvet fold, Nature all its gay adorning Opens to the day's bright bliss, Like a child at early morning, Wakened by its mother's kiss. What a world! when all its sorrow What an earth! when each " to-morrow" Shall be fairer than "to-day." 211 THE FRIEND. THERE is a star in yonder sky, It rose out of my own blue sea, Then passed above those mountains green, Moving all placidly, Far As if it loved to watch the scene. up the heavens it floated slow, It seemed to take its place each night, Pouring sweet thoughts into my breast. THE FRIEND. In through my lattice as I lay Half soothed to sleep, it nightly shone, And as I gazed upon its ray I felt that I was not alone. What tears that gentle star has dried, It spoke of day beyond this night, And bid me rest my spirit there. It spoke of Him whose love is light, Whose favor is the star of night, peace, The source and pledge of endless bliss. May I not love that star on high? May not its light the fairest seem? May I not trace a loving eye, A kindly smile in every beam? 213 |