Pause here! The far off world at last Breathes free; the hand that shook its thrones, And to the earth its mitres cast, Lies powerless now beneath these stones. Hark! Comes there from the pyramids, And from Siberian wastes of snow, And Europe's hills, a voice that bids The world be awed to mourn him?—No! The only, the perpetual dirge That's heard here is the sea-bird's cry The mournful murmur of the surge, The clouds', deep voice, the wind's low sigh. OCCASIONAL HYMN. O THOU, to whom, in ancient time, The lyre of Hebrew bards was strung, Whom kings adored in song sublime, And prophets praised with glowing tongue, Not now, on Zion's height alone, Thy favored worshipper may dwell, Nor where, at sultry noon, thy Son Sat, weary, by the Patriarch's well. From every place below the skies, The grateful song, the fervent prayerThe incense of the heart-may rise To heaven, and find acceptance there. In this Thy house, whose doors we now To Thee the suppliant throng shall bow, To Thee shall Age, with snowy hair, And Strength and Beauty, bend the knee, And Childhood lisp, with reverent air, Its praises and its prayers to Thee. O Thou, to whom, in ancient time, Shall temples rise, and praise be sung. N. P. WILLIS. SPRING. THE Spring is here—the delicate-footed May, Wasting in wood-paths its voluptuous hours- We pass out from the city's feverish hum, Like a cool sleep upon the pulses broods. Strange, that the audible stillness of the noon, And the light whisper as their edges meet— Strange that they fill not, with their tranquil tone, The spirit, walking in their midst alone. There's no contentment, in a world like this, EXTRACT FROM A POEM DELIVERED AT THE DEPARTURE OF THE SENIOR CLASS OF YALE COLLEGE, IN 1826. WE shall go forth together. There will come Alike the day of trial unto all, And the rude world will buffet us alike. And mad ambition trumpeteth to all; Will be in every bosom eloquent ;— And deeper than the vanities of power, M Or the vain pomp of glory, there is writ The pathway to the grave may be the same, There are distinctions that will live in heaven, The elevated brow of kings will lose And, as the trial is intenser here, His being hath a nobler strength in heaven. What is its earthly victory? Press on! |