Poems of Sentiment | Page 4

promise of the Spring!
O June fulfilling after!
If Autumns sigh, when Summers die,
'Tis drowned in Winter's laughter.
O maiden dawns, O wifely noons,
O siren sweet, sweet nights,
I'd want no heaven could earth be given
Again with its delights
(If love stayed near).
There are such glories for the eye,
Such pleasures for the ear,
The senses reel with all they feel
And see and taste and hear;
There are such ways of doing good,
Such ways of being kind,
And bread that's cast on waters fast

Comes home again, I find.
(O love, stay near.)
There are such royal souls to know,
There is so much to learn,
While secrets rest in Nature's breast
And unnamed stars still burn.
God toiled six days to make this earth,
I think the good folks say -
Six lives we need to give full meed
Of praise--one for each day
(If love stay near).
But oh! if love fled far away,
Or veiled his face from me,
One life too much, why then were such
A life as this would be.
With sullen May and blighted June,
Blurred dawn and haggard night,
This dear old world in space were
hurled
If love lent not his light.
(O love, stay near!)
LAST LOVE
The first flower of the spring is not so fair
Or bright as one the ripe
midsummer brings.
The first faint note the forest warbler sings
Is
not as rich with feeling, or so rare
As when, full master of his art, the
air
Drowns in the liquid sea of song he flings
Like silver spray from
beak, and breast, and wings.
The artist's earliest effort, wrought with
care,
The bard's first ballad, written in his tears,
Set by his later toil,
seems poor and tame,
And into nothing dwindles at the test.
So with
the passions of maturer years.
Let those who will demand the first
fond flame,
Give me the heart's LAST LOVE, for that is best.
LIFE'S TRACK

This game of life is a dangerous play,
Each human soul must watch
alway,
From the first to the very last.
I care not however strong and pure -

Let no man say he is perfectly sure
The dangerous reefs are past.
For many a rock may lurk near by,
That never is seen when the tide is
high -
Let no man dare to boast,
When the hand is full of trumps--beware,

For that is the time when thought and care
And nerve are needed most.
As the oldest jockey knows to his cost,
Full many a well-run race is
lost
A brief half length from the wire.
And many a soul that has fought
with sin,
And gained each battle, at last gives in
To sudden, fierce desire.
And vain seems the effort of spur and whip,
Or the hoarse, hot cry of
the pallid lip,
When once we have fallen back.
It is better to keep on stirrup and
rein,
The steady poise and the careful strain,
In speeding along Life's track.
A watchful eye and a strong, true hand
Will carry us under the
Judge's stand,
If prayer, too, does its part;
And little by little the struggling soul

Will grow and strengthen and gain control

Over the passionate heart.
AN ODE TO TIME
Ho! sportsman Time, whose chargers fleet
The moments, madly driven,
Beat in the dust beneath their feet
Sweet hopes that years have given;
Turn, turn aside those reckless
steeds,
Oh! do not urge them my way;
There's nothing that Time wants or
needs
In this contented by-way.
You have down-trodden, in your race,
So much that proves your power,
Why not avoid my humble place?
Why rob me of my dower?
With your vast cellars, cavern deep,
Packed tier on tier with treasures,
You would not miss them should I
KEEP
My little store of pleasures.
As one who, frightened, flying, flings
Her riches down at random,
Your course is paved with precious
things
Life casts before your tandem:
The warrior's fame, the conqueror's
crown,
Great creeds for ages cherished,
Beneath your chariot-wheels were
thrown,

And, crushed to earth, they perished.
Although to just and generous deeds
Your heart is not a stranger,
I have the feeling that one needs
To guard his wealth from danger.
And though a most heroic light
Oft on your pathway lingers,
I'd hide my treasures, if I might,
From contact with your fingers.
You are the loyal friend of Truth,
Go seek her, make her stronger,
And leave the remnant of my youth
To me a little longer.
There's work enough for you before
Eternity shall wed you:
Why stoop to steal my simple store?
Why make me shun and dread you?
You do not need my joys, I say,
Home, love, and friends united -
I beg you turn and go the way
Where wrong waits to be righted;
Or pause, and let us chat a while:
I'll listen--not too near you,
For oh! no matter how you smile,
I fear you, Time, I fear you!
REGRET AND REMORSE
Regret with streaming eyes doth seem alway
A maiden widowed on
her wedding day.
While dark Remorse, with eyes