Felicia Dorothea Hemans

Clad in all their brightest green,
This day verdant fields are seen;
The tuneful birds begin their lay,
To celebrate thy natal day.

Flowers! when the Saviour's calm benignant eye
Fell on your gentle beauty; when from you
That heavenly lesson for all hearts He drew,
Eternal, universal, as the sky;…

His very heart athirst
To gaze at nature in her green array,
Upon the ship's tall side he stands, possess'd
With visions prompted by intense desire;…

I
AY on that rock where the storms have their dwelling,
The birthplace of phantoms, the home of the cloud; Around it for ever deep music is swelling,
The voice of the mountain-wind, solemn and loud. 'Twas a midnight of shadows all…

She stood upon the loftiest peak,
Amidst the clear blue sky,
A bitter smile was on her cheek,
And a dark flash in her eye."Dost thou see then, boy?—through the dusky

O VALE and lake, within your mountain urn
Smiling so tranquilly, and set so deep!
Oft doth your dreamy loveliness return,
Coloring the tender shadows of my sleep…

At Caen, in Normandy, 1087

If it be sad to speak of treasures gone, Of sainted genius call'd too soon away,
Of light, from this world taken, while it shone Yet kindling onward to the perfect day;
How shall our grief, if mournful these things be,
Flow forth,…

Too long have Tyranny and Power combined,
To sway, with iron sceptre, o'er mankind;
Long has Oppression worn th' imperial robe,
And Rapine's sword has wasted half the globe!

HE Sky-lark, when the dews of morn Hang tremulous on flower and thorn,
And violets round his nest
Their fragrance on the early gale,
To the first sunbeam spreads his wings,

I dream of all things free!
Of a gallant, gallant bark,
That sweeps through storm and sea
Like an arrow to its mark!…

ME is thy prospect, thou proud-rolling Ocean,
And Fancy surveys thee with solemn delight;
When thy mountainous billows are wild in commotion,
And the tempest is roused by the spirits of night !

Nor look nor tone revealeth
Save woman's quietness of thought;
And yet around her is a
Of inward majesty and might. ~ M.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handy-work.
Psalm xix. 1.
NO cloud obscures the summer sky,
The moon in brightness walks on high

Oh! call my brother back to me!
    I cannot play alone;
The summer comes with flower and bee—
    Where is my brother gone?“The butterfly is glancing bright…

Heard ye the Gothic trumpet's blast?
The march of hosts as Alaric passed?
His steps have tracked that glorious clime,
The birth-place of heroic time;…

Whither, oh! whither wilt thou wing thy way?
What solemn region first upon thy sight Shall break, unveiled for terror or delight?
What hosts, magnificent in dread array,
My spirit! when thy prison-house of clay After long strife is…

They float before my soul, the fair designs Which I would body forth to life and power,
Like clouds that with their wavering hues and lines Portray majestic building—dome and tower,
Bright spire, that through the rainbow and the shower…

BY the dread and viewless powers,
  Whom the storms and seas obey,
From the Dark Isle’s 1 mystic bowers,
  Romans! o’er the deep away!…

Tell me no more, no
Of my soul's lofty gifts!
Are they not
To quench its haunting thirst for happiness?

THAT was a joyous day in Rheims of old,
When peal on peal of mighty music rolled
Forth from her thronged cathedral; while around,
A multitude, whose billows made no sound,…

COME, gentle muse! now all is calm,
The dew descends, the air is balm;
Unruffled is the glassy deep,
While moon-beams o'er its bosom sleep;…

Ring, joyous chords!—ring out again!
A swifter still, and a wilder strain!
They are here—the fair face and the careless heart,
And stars shall wane ere the mirthful part.…