Lays from the West | Page 9

light their pathway bless;?And, for a lasting stay,?Oh! may they find that happiness?That cannot pass away.
For years may come, and years may go,?And earthly joys grow old;?But heavenly love no change can know--?No time can make it cold.
Oh! welcome! welcome! New-born Year!?And, as we hail your birth,?May pure and holy thoughts come near?And raise our hopes from earth!
OUR NATIVE LAND.
Our Native Land! Our Native Land!?Long may old Erin's vales be green;?May plenty smile on every hand,?Be want and woe unseen!?Oh! let us join with heart and hand?To raise the song--Our Native Land!
Our Native Land! Our Native Land!?May countless blessings on her smile?May dove-eyed Peace her lily-wand?Wave o'er pure Emerald Isle--?Her sons, united brethren, stand,?To raise the song--Our Native Land!
Our Native Land! Our Native Land!?Let patriot voices join the song,?And swell the chorus high and grand,?Till every breeze shall bear it on.?O'er flowery mead and wave-kissed strand?Loud let it ring--Our Native Land!
Our Native Land! Our Native Land!?Let Erin's sense the notes prolong,?Together joined-a mighty band?United by one common song.?'Tis Honour's right-her just command?Then let us love Our Native Land!
TO THE SEA.
Oh! rolling waves, while ye sing around me,?My poises beat to your fitful tune,?And higher thoughts in my breast awaken,?But the spell must vanish too soon, too soon.?Here while I lie let your echoes linger,?And rest awhile on this lute of mine;?And though I play with an erring finger,?The sounds shall charm if they're caught from thine.?And my song shall be rich in melody,?Learned from thy singing, oh' tuneful Sea!
Sadly sigh while the clouds loom o'er thee,?Dark and grey in yon stormy sky;?Foaming billows, your angry wailing?Fills my soul like a hopeless cry!?Heaving breast with your great heart throbbing?Ocean pulses that wildly thrill;?Wandering waves in such cadence breaking,?Rolling, rolling, and never still.?Oh! that my soul, like thine, were free,?Eager and restless, oh! beautiful Sea!
The clouds disperse, and like glory breaking?In fancy's eyes o'er a poet's dream,?Clad in the sunlight the waters glisten,?And dazzling bright in the radiance gleam.?Far and wide o'er the scene of grandeur?My glad eyes wander, my heart beats high;?Lost in a maze of light and wonder,?I faint in a dream of ecstasy;?And the spirit of beauty thou seem'st to me?In that flood of glory, oh! changing Sea!
Yet best I love when the mystic gloaming?Grows dim, and the crimson sunset dies;?For I dream that your mighty tones are changing,?And in psalms of praise through the shadows rise.?Oh! Nature's organ! Methinks thy numbers?Keep time with the songs of Cherubim,?While through hidden caves come the echoes swelling?Their chorus grand to the ocean hymn;?And my soul, adorning, ascends with thee,?In deep thanksgiving, oh! wondrous Sea!
A FAREWELL SONG.
Oh! sometimes when our hearts are gay,?And Pleasure round us smiles,?Too soon the hours may pass away?That rosy Mirth beguiles;?And we may feel a tinge of pain?Amid the festal cheer,?And pause to ask, "When, when again,?Shall all be gathered here?"
But ah! the future's dusky veil?Hides coming years from view;?And still our yearning eyes must fail?To pierce its darkness through.?But Memory can hold the past?That we have loved so well;?And, like a halo round it cast,?Affection's light may dwell.
And thus, my friends, though call'd away?To join another scene,?My thoughts shall often backward stray?To all that once has been.?And bygone hours shall come again--?The cherished times and dear.?And bring the moments in their train?When I was with you here.
And as sweet flowers, tho' sere and dead,?Can by their fragrance bring?Remembrance of the days long fled?Again on Memory's wing.?So many a kindly smile I'll mourn?With deep and fond regret;?For though I never may return,?I never can forget.
SOLITUDE.
"Solitude delighteth well to feed on many thoughts;?There, as thou sittest peaceful, communing with Fancy,?The precious poetry of life shall gild its leaden cares"?--TUPPER
Come, Solitude! best soother of my mind--?The sole companion of my happiest hours;?The spell, all potent, of thy gentle powers?Here in this lovely spot, I come to find.
Below yon mountains, in the sunset beams,?Lough Neagh's glassy waters widely spread;?And through the distance, like a shining thread,?The "Silver Bann" along the valley gleams.
Lough Neagh! often in the evening light?I've watched the golden sunset kiss thy breast,?Then, as it died on many a wavelet's crest,?Homeward, unwilling, turned, with fond "Goodnight."
The bare trees in the planting moan and sigh;?I've watched their leaves from buds, till they had grown?To vernal beauty. Withered now and strewn?Upon the walks, all sere and dead they lie.
And in the Spring, when the young leaves came first,?Here, often in my lone imaginings,?What golden dreams I knew of glorious things;?Visions my willing mind too fondly nurse.
Visions that, like the leaves, to beauty grew,?Gladdening my heart thro' sunny summer hours;?Clad in bright garlands, woven from Fancy's bowers?Radiant with Hope's fair light of mellow hue.
And are they withered too? All those swept dreams?That I had hoped in future years to see?Around me bloom, in living, grand reality;?No longer far-off things, or misty,