Page:Bijou 1828.pdf/2



'Twas dark with cypresses and yews which cast Drear shadows on the fairer trees and flowers— Affections latest signs.*** Dark portal of another world—the grave— I do not fear thy shadow; and methinks, If I may make my own heart oracle,— The many long to enter thee, for thou Alone canst reunite the loved and lost With those who pine for them. I fear thee not; I only fear mine own unworthiness, Lest it prove barrier to my hope, and make Another parting in another world.

1. ! oh fling thy green boughs on air, There is dew on thy branches, what doth it do there? Thou art worn on the conqueror's shield, When his country receives him from glory's red field; Thou that art wreathed round the lyre of the bard, When the song of its sweetness has won its reward. Earth's changeless and sacred—thou proud laurel tree! The ears of the midnight, why hang they on thee?