Emblems of power and beauty! well may they Shine brightest on our borders, and withdraw Towards the great Pacific, marking out The path of empire. Thus, in our own land, Light the nuptial torch, And say the glad, yet solemn rite, that knits As now at other murders. Hapless Greece! Enough of blood has wet thy rocks, and stained Of thy pure maidens, and thy innocent babes, CONJUNCTION OF JUPITER AND VENUS. 187 Thy crimes of old. In yonder mingling lights Thou shalt arise from midst the dust and sit Again among the nations. Thine own arm Shall yet redeem thee. Not in wars like thine The world takes part. Be it a strife of kings, Despot with despot battling for a throne,— And Europe shall be stirred throughout her realms, Shall put new strength into thy heart and hand, A SUMMER RAMBLE. THE quiet August noon has come, And mark yon soft white clouds that rest Above our vale, a moveless throng; The cattle on the mountain's breast Enjoy the grateful shadow long. Oh, how unlike those merry hours And woodlands sing and waters shout. When in the grass sweet voices talk, From every nameless blossom's bell. A SUMMER RAMBLE. 189 But now a joy too deep for sound, A peace no other season knows, Away! I will not be, to-day, The only slave of toil and care. Away from desk and dust! away! I'll be as idle as the air. Beneath the open sky abroad, Among the plants and breathing things, Come, thou, in whose soft eyes I see From men and all their cares apart. And where, upon the meadow's breast, The blue wild flowers thou gatherest Shall glow yet deeper near thine eyes. Come, and when mid the calm profound, |