And XERXES in a single bark, Where late his thousand ships were dark, Must all their fury dare ; Thy glorious revenge was this, Thy trophy, deathless SALAMIS! M. J. J. STANZAS. BY T. K. HERVEY, ESQ. SLUMBER lie soft on thy beautiful eye! Spirits whose smiles are— -like thine-of the sky, Play thee to sleep with their visionless strings, Brighter than thou-but because they have wings! But loving and loved as a child of the earth! Why is that tear? Art thou gone, in thy dream, To the valley far off, and the moon-lighted stream, Where the sighing of flowers, and the nightingale's song, Fling sweets on the wave, as it wanders along? And now, as I watch o'er thy slumbers, alone, I blame not the fate that has taken the rest, Slumber lie soft on thy beautiful eye! Oh! not for sunshine and hope would I part With the shade time has flung over all-but thy heart! Only more holy-and only less wild! Friendship's Offering. TO AN EAGLE. BY J. PERCIVAL. BIRD of the broad and sweeping wing, Where wide the storms their banners fling, Thou sittest, like a thing of light, The midway sun is clear and bright- Thy pinions to the rushing blast O'er the bursting billow spread, Where the vessel plunges, hurry past, Like an angel of the dead. Thou art perched aloft on the beetling crag, And the waves are white below, And on, with a haste that cannot lag, They rush in an endless flow. Again, thou hast plumed thy wing for flight And away, like a spirit wreathed in light, Thou hurriest over the myriad waves, And thou leavest them all behind; Thou sweepest that place of unknown graves, Fleet as the tempest wind. When the night-storm gathers dim and dark, With a shrill and a boding scream, Thou rushest by the foundering bark, Quick as a passing dream. Lord of the boundless realm of air, The hearts of the bold and ardent dare Beneath the shade of thy golden wings From the river of Egypt's cloudy springs, For thee they fought, for thee they fell, Thou wert, through an age of death and fears, Till the gathered rage of a thousand years And then, a deluge of wrath it came, And it swept the earth, till its fields were flame, And where was then thy fearless flight?- To the lands that caught the setting light, There, on the silent and lonely shore, For ages, I watched alone, And the world, in its darkness, asked no more, Where the glorious bird had flown. "But then came a bold and hardy few, And they breasted the unknown wave; I caught afar the wandering crew, And I knew they were high and brave. I wheeled around the welcome bark, And up to heaven, like a joyous lark, My quivering pinions bore. "And now, that bold and hardy few Are a nation wide and strong, And danger and doubt I have led them through, And over their bright and glancing arms, On field, and lake, and sea, With an eye that fires, and a spell that charms, Atlantic Souvenir. THE LOST STAR. A light is gone from yonder sky, What wert thou star of?—vanished one! Thy beauty from the east is gone: What was thy sway and sign? Wert thou the star of opening youth? And is it then for thee, Its frank glad thoughts, its stainless truth, Lord of the boundless realm of air, The hearts of the bold and ardent dare Beneath the shade of thy golden wings From the river of Egypt's cloudy springs, For thee they fought, for thee they fell, Thou wert, through an age of death and fears, Till the gathered rage of a thousand years And then, a deluge of wrath it came, And it swept the earth, till its fields were flame, And where was then thy fearless flight?- To the lands that caught the setting light, There, on the silent and lonely shore, For ages, I watched alone, And the world, in its darkness, asked no more, Where the glorious bird had flown. "But then came a bold and hardy few, And they breasted the unknown wave; I caught afar the wandering crew, And I knew they were high and brave. |